Whatever you do, treat your new Apple HomePod with care.
Apple has published a new support page on its HomePod that says the company will charge customers $279 to repair a HomePod that is broken and out of warranty. If customers need to ship back the HomePod to Apple for repair, the company will charge an additional $19.95, bringing the price to $300 to repair an ailing HomePod. Apple charges $349 for a new HomePod—$50 more than it’ll charge to fix a damaged unit.
Luckily, you won’t need to worry about that cost anytime soon. Apple’s standard HomePod warranty covers repairs on the unit for one year. The standard warranty also includes 90 days of complimentary telephone support. After that, however, you’re on your own unless you bought the AppleCare+ HomePod warranty for your smart speaker. That option extends repairs and telephone support to two years. It’s also nicely affordable at $39 and a far sight from the $279 it’ll take to repair the device.
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Apple’s pricing is no surprise to those who have dealt with damaged products in the past. Apple is notorious for assigning high prices on repairs, which make some people think opting for AppleCare+ is the way to go. And in many cases, it is.
HomePod support pricing comes as Apple has started selling the smart speaker it unveiled last year. The device, which is now available in Apple’s stores and the company’s online marketplace, supports the company’s Siri virtual personal assistant, giving users voice control to turn on music, control smart home devices, and more.
Apple has also said that the HomePod will sound substantially better than its competitors, including Amazon Echo and Google Home.
