After struggling for years to gain meaningful traction in the booming smart speaker market, Apple has officially decided to throw in the towel with the original HomePod. Launched in early 2018 at a lofty $350 price point, the HomePod never commanded strong sales for a variety of reasons. In addition to being priced at a massive premium compared to popular devices from Amazon.com and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) subsidiary Google, Apple's virtual assistant Siri is widely considered to be inferior, and the Mac maker has long resisted supporting third-party music-streaming services like Spotify, the most popular music-streaming service on the planet. (Apple is working to add support for other services, likely in part due to antitrust criticisms.) The HomePod Mini is selling much better than its larger sibling. Image source: Apple. It's all about HomePod Mini now Apple's market share in the smart speaker market languished, reaching a mere 4.7% by the end of 2019, according to Strategy Analytics. The more affordable HomePod Mini that was released last year at the $99 price point is far more competitive with Amazon's Echo and Google's Nest Audio. The HomePod Mini helped bolster Apple's position, as the Cupertino tech giant's share was able to hit a new high of 7.8% in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to Strategy Analytics. Global smart speaker sales hit record levels of over 150 million units last year, despite the challenging macroeconomic environment related to the COVID-19 pandemic. As one might expect, Amazon and Google maintained their dominant positions in the smart speaker and smart display market, as those tech companies have been continuously expanding their product portfolios. Both companies refreshed their lineups last fall. Company Q4 2020 Units Q4 2020 Market Share Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) 16.5 million 28.3% Google 13.2 million 22.6% Baidu 6.6 million 11.3% Alibaba 6.3 million 10.8% Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) 4.6 million 7.8% Xiaomi 3.8 million 6.5% Others 7.3 million 12.6% Total 58.2 million 100% Data source: Strategy Analytics. "HomePod mini has been a hit since its debut last fall, offering customers amazing sound, an intelligent assistant, and smart home control all for just $99," Apple said in a statement provided to various media outlets. "We are focusing our efforts on HomePod mini." It's about time that Apple killed off the beleaguered HomePod. Even the price cut to $300 in 2019 failed to stimulate sales, as the company's emphasis on high-fidelity audio only appealed to a niche audiophile segment of the market. Most average consumers would prefer a more affordable product, and the HomePod Mini is far better positioned to address the mainstream. The smaller speaker is already off to a strong start. Can Apple maintain the momentum? 10 stocks we like better than AppleWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Apple wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of February 24, 2021 John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Evan Niu, CFA owns shares of Amazon, Apple, and Spotify Technology. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Amazon, Apple, Baidu, and Spotify Technology and recommends the following options: short March 2023 $130 calls on Apple, long January 2022 $1920 calls on Amazon, long March 2023 $120 calls on Apple, and short January 2022 $1940 calls on Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source