Apple delays sale of its "breakthrough" smart speaker to next year

U.S. hi-tech giant Apple announced Friday that it will postpone the release of HomePod, its "breakthrough" smart speaker, to next year, from the originally planned debut during the holiday season this year.

"We can't wait for people to experience HomePod, Apple's breakthrough wireless speaker for the home, but we need a little more time before it's ready for our customers," Apple said in a short statement.

Apple fans will not be able to get the much-anticipated smart speaker, which was announced in June to hit the market during the coming Christmas season in 2017.

"We'll start shipping in the U.S., UK and Australia in early 2018," Apple said in the statement.

The cylindrical speaker features a four-inch subwoofer, a seven-speaker array of tweeters and a six-microphone array, which was advertised as having a sound quality superior to its rivals such as Amazon Echo and Google Home, both slated for a release in December.

Apple has already lagged behind Amazon and Google in the market for high-end smart home speakers.

This is the second time that Apple has delayed the release of its product in two years.

Last year, Apple postponed the sale of AirPods, it's custom wireless headphones, from October to December.

Media reports said Apple will produce 4 million HomePod in 2018.