The original HomePod was notoriously troublesome to restore, to the purpose the place slicing instruments have been generally mandatory. Apple is not giving almost as a lot grief with the second-gen model, nevertheless. iFixit has torn down the brand new good speaker and found that it is simpler to pry open. The big quantities of glue are gone — you will get inside utilizing little greater than a screwdriver, and the inner elements are equally accessible. Mix this with the removable energy wire and it needs to be possible to repair at the least some components your self.
iFixit cautions that it hasn’t examined for potential software restrictions on repairs. It is not clear you can substitute circuit boards and nonetheless anticipate a functioning HomePod. Even so, it is evident Apple considers repairability to be a precedence this time round, a lot because it does with the standard iPhone 14 and different current merchandise.
Not that Apple has a lot alternative however to make the HomePod extra fix-friendly. Each federal and state governments are pushing for right-to-repair mandates. If Apple did not make the speaker simpler to take care of, it risked a political pushback. And whereas we would not depend on Apple including the HomePod to its Self Service Repair program, the second-gen’s design makes that prospect extra life like.
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