Last week, Apple unveiled the successor of the original HomePod. With a few new tricks, the second generation of smart speakers plans to bring back a fuller sound with heavier bass and new computational audio tricks. That said, users might wonder if Apple is working on the next version of the HomePod mini – which, apparently, the company is not.
According to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman, in his Power On newsletter, the journalist says Apple is not “actively working” on a new iteration of the HomePod mini.
After the debut of a new full-sized HomePod, many users started asking about an update to the mini model. But at this point, I don’t believe that Apple is actively working on such as product. The latest HomePod doesn’t include any major new functions that aren’t already in the $99 mini, so there isn’t an obvious reason to update the model.
Sure, it would be nice to get more colors, a cheaper price, and better sound and microphones, but the real improvements probably need to be made on the back end — with Siri and app integration.
That said, Gurman does not believe Apple is working on new hardware. Instead, the company could – or should – be working on new software features to improve Siri and how the Home app works. For example, the new Home architecture first available with iOS 16.2 caused a lot of issues for several users.
In addition, apart from the bigger size, the new HomePod 2 does not bring new features compared to the HomePod mini. Both will feature the U1 chip and have temperature and humidity sensors.
It’s important to say that Apple might be focusing now on a low-end iPad to become people’s smart hub and an Amazon Echo competitor that will be a HomePod-iPad hybrid device.
