Snippet: HomePods Increasing in Value ☇

Sean Hollister for The Verge:

I thought it was really strange when Apple kept selling the original $299 HomePod months after it got discontinued. But now, it’s starting to make sense — not only are some people still willing to pay a premium for the somewhat smart speaker, they’re willing to pay more than Apple charged for it.

We took a look at eBay sales numbers after spotting 9to5Mac editor-in-chief Chance Miller’s tweet, and we soon discovered it wasn’t just a joke: on average, an Apple HomePod fetched $375 this past week. That’s 25 percent more than Apple charged.

A friend of mine had one and it was a fantastic device—if you tempered your expectations of what Siri could do, it worked well enough and sounded great. There’s certainly a following of folks who love theirs and would probably purchase more if Apple didn’t unceremoniously kill it without a replacement. I have a HomePod mini and really enjoy it, but it would be nice for Apple to offer a bigger version as a step up.