HomePod Pre-Orders On Apple Site Sold Out, Best Buy Pre-Orders Still Available

The HomePod is set to release Friday, but Apple’s website shows pre-orders for the speaker have sold out.

Apple revealed the $349 HomePod last fall and promised to deliver it to customers in December. However, Apple pushed back the speaker’s release date to Feb. 9. Apple began taking pre-orders for the HomePod on Jan. 26 in the U.S., U.K. and Australia.

The HomePod’s checkout page now shows the speaker is no longer available for overnight delivery when customers order the device on Thursday, the Verge first reported. This means customers who place their order won’t have the gadget in time for its official release date. Instead, people who order the device on Thursday will have it delivered on Tuesday, Feb. 13.

HomePod In-Store Pick Up, Best Buy Pre-Orders

The in-store pick up option wasn’t available for the HomePod either, but that has been the case for the past few days. Customers who want to be the first to get the HomePod still have a chance to get the speaker by personally going to their local Apple Store on Friday. Other retailers, including Best Buy, will also sell the HomePod.

HomePod pre-orders at Best Buy are still available. As of late Thursday afternoon, Best Buy’s site said it was still delivering HomePods to customers on Friday. Customers also have the option of picking up their reserved speaker at a Best Buy location on the launch day.

HomePod pre-orders on Apple's site were already sold out in the U.K. and Australia earlier this week. As of Tuesday, customers hoping to get their hands on a HomePod saw delivery dates pushed back to Feb. 12 in the U.K. and Feb. 13 in Australia.

Meanwhile, people who have previously placed their orders for the HomePod said this week that they have already received a UPS tracking number for the device.

The sold-out pre-orders in the U.S. come after reviews for the HomePod began pouring in. While some reviewers criticized the price and Siri’s lack of intelligence, the speaker was praised for its sound quality and the ability to know where it’s placed in a room.

The HomePod comes with Apple’s A8 chip and features a spongy fabric for its aesthetic and acoustic performance. The speaker includes a high‑excursion woofer, seven horn-loaded tweeters that each come with their own custom amplifier and a six-microphone array. Users can control HomeKit smart home accessories through the HomePod and can get news and weather updates.

The device works with Apple Music and will have multi-room speaker support via AirPlay 2 later this year. However, Apple’s limitation to Apple Music was received with some criticism. The HomePod’s use of Apple Music only means customers can’t use their Spotify, Pandora and Amazon Prime accounts.

The HomePod comes into the smart speaker market that includes a range of gadgets, from affordable to high-end. Amazon has multiple Echo gadgets, with the Echo Dot priced as low as $49.99 and the Echo Show selling at $229. Google also offers consumers several options, including the Home Mini for $49.99.