Earlier this week it was noticed that the HomePod speakers had sold out at Apple’s Online Store in the UK, where shipping estimates peg the speaker’s availability for the 13th of February. Shortly after the same thing happened to Apple Australia’s online store, leaving the US as the only market in which the speakers were still available on launch day.
However it looks like that is no longer possible because according to Apple’s Online Store, the HomePod will no longer ship on the 9th of February for new customers. Those who pre-ordered it earlier on can still expect their orders to arrive tomorrow, but if you’re only ordering now then you’ll have to wait for an extra business day, which means that it will only arrive on Monday.
However we should point out that these are only orders for the online store, meaning that you could probably head on over to an Apple retail store and try your luck there. Apple typically keeps stock separate for its online and offline purchases, so if you can’t wait an extra day then that’s an option you can check out.
The HomePod is priced at $350 which makes it pretty expensive as far as smart speakers are concerned, although Apple does emphasize on its audio quality and so far reviews are quick to agree that it sounds good. However there are limitations with the speakers, such as it only being able to stream Apple Music and iTunes purchases, and that despite it featuring Bluetooth 5.0, you can’t actually use it as a set of Bluetooth speakers.