Earlier this month, Apple released the second generation version of their HomePod smart speaker, and the folks at iFixit have deemed it much easier to open, deconstruct, and repair than the original.
The original HomePod was notoriously difficult to open up, with many large plastic pieces being stuck or glued together– forcing it open resulted in the destruction of parts, and it was clear that Apple did not intend anyone to be able to get inside. iFixit’s video of the original HomePod teardown was gruesome, but luckily, the new version seems to have been constructed with third party repair services (or crafty HomePod owners) in mind.
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Gone are the layers upon layers of adhesive, and in their place, screws and pieces that can manually be separated without an extreme amount of force. This disassembly results in a much easier view of the HomePod’s components, and demystifies some of the smart speaker’s inner workings. iFixit deems the second generation HomePod a great improvement upon the first, and the speaker’s ease of disassembly paints a much easier future for those in the electronic repair industry.
