I thought it was really weird when Apple continued to sell the first HomePod for $ 299 months after it was released. But now, this is starting to make sense - not only are some people still willing to pay the smart speaker premium, they are willing to pay more than what Apple paid for it.
We looked at eBay sales numbers after seeing a tweet by 9to5Mac editor-in-chief Chance Miller, and soon discovered that it wasn't just a joke: on average, the Apple HomePod downloaded $ 375 this past week. That's 25 percent more than what Apple charged.
After all, some HomePods are more important than others - a used boxless speaker can earn you only $ 220 ahead of eBay payments, but we have seen a few unlocked HomePods in the industry that have been sold for over $ 500. In fact, some retailers are proud to have Apple to replace their old HomePod with new units just so they can browse.
When I sort out expensive imported items with closed boxes, the average price was $ 350 this past week. That's still $ 50 more than what they call new!
Note that prices may drop as Verge readers fill the market. EBay screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge
It's subtle, but you can see from the eBay chart above that the value of the HomePod has been appreciated since last year. That doesn't make sense for gadgets like these, save scalping scenarios as we recently saw with consoles and GPUs.
Why HomePod?
That is a good question. It’s part of Apple’s history, perhaps; you need two or more stereo or audio for the entire home; and unlike its affordable HomePod Mini fan, it sounds great. My colleague Jen Tuohy also explained that a smart home is one of the few places where Siri does well. Do you think people realize that the only option other than the Noisy HomePod Mini is too loud.