New HomePod Can Still Stain Some Wooden Surfaces

When the original HomePod was launched in 2018, it was discovered that the speaker could leave a white ring on some wooden surfaces. Now, the well-known YouTuber Marques Brownlee has confirmed that the problem is still minimal with the new HomePod.

In a side-by-side test, he pointed out that the white second-generation HomePod left a white ring on the wooden surface he placed the speaker on, though the stain was fainter and took longer to appear than the one on the bottom of the original HomePod. .

In a support document first published in 2018, Apple admitted that speakers with vibration damping silicon bases can leave light marks on some wooden surfaces as a result of oil spreading between the silicon base and the table surface:

It is not unusual for any speaker with a vibration-damping silicone base to leave a light mark when placed on some wooden surfaces. The marks can be caused by oil spreading between the silicone base and the table surface, and will often disappear after a few days when the speaker is removed from the wooden surface. If not, wiping the surface gently with a soft or dry damp cloth can remove the marks. If marks remain, clean the surface using the cleaning process recommended by the furniture manufacturer. If you are concerned about this, we recommend placing your HomePod in a different location.

Apple has yet to update its support documents to mention the second-generation HomePod. The problem does not affect the HomePod mini.

Check out our HomePod review roundup for additional impressions of the speaker ahead of its launch on Friday. Most reviews say that the new HomePod sounds the same or almost the same as the original model, and says that many of the shortcomings of Siri when the HomePod was first launched in 2018 have been solved. However, Siri still lags behind competitors like Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant in some areas.