That would be nice but that’s not Apples business model, their model is the upsell, they would much rather sell you a robot for 3 grand or something silly which they make obsolete in 4 years time. And not have any improved AI on its HomePods and instead force you to buy an iOS device. No mention has been made of the Apple Watch and its improved AI, that has t got the chips required for it and most likely won’t so you’ll need an iPhone to use Apples AI with the Apple Watch. Again the upsell.
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Gurman: Apple Intelligence Coming to Vision Pro, but Not HomePod
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That would be nice but that’s not Apples business model, their model is the upsell, they would much rather sell you a robot for 3 grand or something silly which they make obsolete in 4 years time. And not have any improved AI on its HomePods and instead force you to buy an iOS device. No mention has been made of the Apple Watch and its improved AI, that has t got the chips required for it and most likely won’t so you’ll need an iPhone to use Apples AI with the Apple Watch. Again the upsell.
It isn’t yet settled how much of that RAM is used and how often. Until we know those details it is safe to assume 8GB machines will struggle as they need RAM for things other than Apple Intelligence. Especially MacBook Pro devices where running multiple applications is not only normal, but expected. Unlike an iPad or iPhone where only a single app is running at once.
I have two home pod mini that I use to stream music from my computer, iPad or iPhone depending on what I am doing (working out, working, relaxing, cooking), that’s all I have bought them for and they are okay for that, and relatively cheap. Sometimes I use it for a call or a timer. Like the watch a nice secondary effect (at least for me), it’s that it keeps me away from my other devices’ screens and related distractions.
works fine, but you have to be careful with naming things, so they are distinct. Multiple offices for example, Bedroom names. I use Master, Charlie, Sadie ( not real names
- Turn charlies lights off. Also device names - don't use Bedroom Ceiling, Bedroom Wall etc.
Use Scenes a lot. It's perfect with them. I suspect Siri will still be improved on the server side. It needs follow on commands - turn the kitchen lights off AND open the blinds.
works fine, but you have to be careful with naming things, so they are distinct. Multiple offices for example, Bedroom names. I use Master, Charlie, Sadie ( not real names
Also device names - don't use Bedroom Ceiling, Bedroom Wall etc.
Use Scenes a lot. It's perfect with them. I suspect Siri will still be improved on the server side. It needs follow on commands - turn the kitchen lights off AND open the blinds.
Thanks, I will have a play with what I have, with Amazon looking at charging for Alexa I may change over. I just have smart sockets and lights that I use with it really. Oh and my Dyson fan. But I’ve seen some do some really clever stuff with Home Kit.
To be fair, seeing what a piece of trash Siri is, do we really expect Siri 2.0 / Apple Intelligence to be any good?
Or maybe not?
Apple's Touchscreen HomePod Coming This Year: Everything We Know
Apple is believed to be working on a new full-sized HomePod that features a touchscreen display for the first time. The device is rumored to launch...
www.macrumors.com
I expect Apple will look to serve this market with new devices that can drive the experience. Apple HomePod with Intelligence. Maybe the top-end HomePod with loads more RAM and processing power could become a form of home server in which all your other HomePods send processing requests to and from.
Apple has let Siri rot and now they think AI will fix it. There is a reason Siri is pretty much the worst virtual assistant out there.
Then it wouldn’t be satire would itI realise this post was made in satire, but surely you could have picked a more realistic-sounding number?
Forbes said this yesterday on a similar observation
"The first prize though will go to the company that finally creates an immersive experience that doesn’t require any head gear."
Ouch!
I understand that current HomePods can't handle the new Apple Intelligence features. I understand that even in the future a standalone speaker may not be the appropriate avenue for all of Apple Intelligence's features... but Siri *MUST* gain the smarts of AI Chatbots when speaking to it... currently Siri can barely understand you asking it about the weather, and God forbid you rephrase the question midstream or ask anything as a followup... this HAS to be fixed or people will simply seek out alternatives that will handle this and Google and eventually Meta will be happy to oblige.
There are very good reasons for not doing anything on HomePod:
- Only 1Gb of RAM (or something similar)
- Weak neural engine in S7 SoC which is the same as used in Apple Watch
- Almost no personal data locally, which Apple Intelligence needs to work as designed
Apple probably didn't know how much RAM Apple Intelligence needed until late 2023 since it didn't exist at all on January 1st, 2023.
When Google released its LLM on Pixel phones, it was only released on the high-end model with 12 Gb of RAM. The Pixel phone with 8Gb of RAM was only supported after a public outcry. Now you can enable it in the developer section.
I'm not aware of any device with less than 8Gb of RAM, running a good LLM locally.
Apple just started working on iOS 19 according to Mac Rumors. LLMs being RAM intensive is also well known and not a new development. They had a pretty solid idea of what they'd need heading into the iPhone 15 development cycle.
They just clearly cut it off prematurely to increase profitability and hopefully drive an upgrade cycle...
The iPhone 15 Pro got a RAM upgrade to ensure they had enough RAM to deliver AI at WWDC. Otherwise, they would have had to wait until either general availability in September or WWDC 2025. Delivering at WWDC was important to ensure developers could develop new features incorporating it.
Otherwise, there really isn't anything in the iPhone 15 Pro that made the RAM apparent compared to the iPhone 14 Pro which it is largely identical to.
Expect the iPhone 16 launch to send a significant amount of time showcasing Apple Intelligence and expect them to showcase at least a couple of features that are gated to the iPhone 16 Pro that the iPhone 15 Pro won't have access to.
They ignored Siri itself for a decade.
The HomePod was a reaction to the Alexa, and it turns out that was a dead end even for Amazon.
More likely odds is that the product is quietly phased out.
It's an embarrassment. Siri is bad enough, but they're also sluggish and just plain buggy.
They also represent that side of Apple that isn’t well discussed. They can really abandon stuff and put you on a dead end road.
Who knows how long they will support them for.
I liked them, but I am glad I stuck with Sonos.
The reason why is because the new robotic version of “HomePod” will be renamed something else and it will have Apple Intelligence.
Every time Apple says they "only enter a product category when they think they're making it the best" I just look at the HomePod in confusion because it's by far the worst "smart" speaker you can get
Perhaps an updated AppleTV as an option would be more suitable. Apple TVs are not as mobile so more likely to be around when a HomePod needs it and one Apple TV would probably be able to handle multiple HomePods on the same network.
The scenario already occurs with HomeKit where you can use an AppleTV as the controller and the HomePods are the audio/Siri interface, future versions of HomeKit will allow you to nominate a preferred controller so you could presumably pick the "intelligent" one.
Adding more intelligence to the existing HomePods may cause other challenges and costs especially to the mini, there is already a note about the inbuilt temperature sensors become inaccurate when the HomePod is busy and most people do not want to pay more for every HomePod.
Adding an A18 to an inexpensive Apple TV makes sense, especially if Apple were to extend that idea to users of older iPhones who won’t be jumping at the chance to upgrade just for Apple Intelligence. That chance might come with iPhone SE4 next year though as SE phones have typically arrived mid cycle with the current A series cpu.
The idea that Apple might allow on device Apple intelligence at home to users of older non A18/A17 pro devices if you purchase a new Apple TV with A18 should do the trick if not for the slight doubt introduced earlier in the thread about a new Apple TV variant that uses the same A15 cpu (although there is a variant that comes with the additional GPU core and 6gb of Ram that came in the iPhone 13 Pro and subsequently the iPhone 14).
You’d really have to ask why Apple might use an A series cpu incapable of accessing Apple intelligence in a new product now unless it’s a refreshed iPad for the low end lines.