HomePod Mini With Updated Chip Coming Soon

[subjonas]

Knowing Apple they’ll make them incompatible with version 1.

I’ve got several and they are fine. If the audio quality is improved I’ll consider upgrading.

Incompatible as a stereo pair? If they improve audio quality, then pairing different quality speakers wouldn't produce a perfectly symmetrical sound which would make it much more complicated to control and probably produce non-ideal results regardless.
Probably the only way they'll be compatible is if Apple doesn't improve the audio quality.

 

[Will Co]

I upgraded my phone because of the promised Apple Intelligence that was supposed to replace or augment Siri. I could have waited another year and phone generation. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice….. I won’t buy any new pods, phones, pads etc until I see the improvement or replacement of Siri. You need to deliver, Apple.

 

[hagar]

You can be assured that this will be the case. The HomePod is the absolutely perfect device to fully house an LLM (Large Language Model) for in-house (pun intended) processing. No internet reequired.

You can be assured this will definitely not be the case. Apple will not put 12 or 16Gb of RAM in this device.

 

[abatabia]

My HomePods have been a buggy unreliable mess. They go in and out. My OG HomePod went dead for two years before magically coming back to life on its own (see my post) so I’ll never buy another one.

An updated chip after 5 years? Do better Apple. Make them able to pair with full size HomePods to become a surround system, make them Dolby atmos capable, I can go on.

Don’t be lazy.

 

[Moukee]

An upgraded wifi chip would be very welcome. Online discussions frequently refer to wifi woes with Homepods, making them unreliable as a Home Hub.

Would be welcome, but don't get your hopes up. The Watch 10 still only has 802.11n (Wi-Fi 4) 2.4 GHz only, so unless they customize the chip specifically for the HomePod, it won't support newer standards.

 

[freezelighter]

I didn't know Apple Intelligence was released.

 

[Tsurisuto]

What I would love from the HomePods is to be able to use 4 as a home theatre surround sound system. Im guessing so far that this hasn't happened to some sort of hardware limitation…?

 

[svish]

Hopefully it will have bright colors. Will not be surprised to see a small price increase. Definitely expecting better sound quality wth the new ones. Not expecting to see a removable power cord.

 

[TimFL1]

Im not upgrading unless it has the confirmation of Apple Intelligence and the better Siri.

This is the way to go about this. If the new HomePods don‘t have support for AI / new Siri architecture, there is no reason to upgrade.

I‘m sitting on a few dozen Minis with ghost touch issues that I need to replace, I‘d rather unplug and shelf them than buy a shortsighted refreshed Mini 2 without any futureproof chip.

 

[DrRadon]

I have two HomePod mini and they are borderline useless.

I am in my living room. Due to bad experiences I try to talk as directly to my HomePod mini as possible "Siri, turn the lights out." The devices seem to communicate with each other so I dont get responses from three Apple devices at once. Still, the iPad triggers and starts monologuing to me "In wich room do you want to turn the lights out..." naming every sodding room available instead of the one I am in.

This smart speaker is as dumb as a robot callcenter. Would you like to...? press 4!
It's the pinnacle of overpromise and underdeliver. There is absolutely no way for me to buy new HomePods.

It's a speaker in wifi. It's good enough. Work on your HomeNetwork Apple. Deliver Hub devices that fix this within the network instead of selling the next level of "Siri is terrible" via new electronic wast that will be 97% the same components as before.

 

[DrRadon]

Maybe it’s just me, but I hate using voice assistants for music. It’s not just that Siri is useless, I don’t like the superior voice assistant platforms, either. It’s just easier to use a visual interface. I can search Apple Music on my iPad faster than I can say “Hey Siri, play Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne on Apple Music”. Even if Siri gets it right (which is a big if), what if I want one of the many live versions instead? Then I have to add the album name, but what if I don’t know the album name? An iPad and a dumb Bluetooth speaker is just the superior option.

Dos that Apple Music "Siri Only" subscription still exist? I wonder how much Stockholm syndrome that lead to. Not talking about the muse song unless that randomly played when you asked for Mozart to be played and Siri once again wildly misunderstood you.

 

[SvenLorenz1975]

I only use it as a hub for seven Eve Thermos, five Eve Energy, one Eve Thermo Control and an Eve Cam and it works perfectly, never had any problems,

 

[HiFifreak]

So now it is only "Coming SOON"? Did Mark ran out of date's? Or does he have dead batteries in his glass bowl?

 

[chfilm]

If they dont bring apple intelligence / the smarter siri on this they are lost.

 

[zoozx]

Siri NEVER Worked !

 

[kiranmk2]

You can be assured this will definitely not be the case. Apple will not put 12 or 16Gb of RAM in this device.

This is the way to go about this. If the new HomePods don‘t have support for AI / new Siri architecture, there is no reason to upgrade.

I‘m sitting on a few dozen Minis with ghost touch issues that I need to replace, I‘d rather unplug and shelf them than buy a shortsighted refreshed Mini 2 without any futureproof chip.

I seems clear these new units will not support Apple Intelligence natively due to the lack of A18 with 8+ GB RAM (or watch equivalent, that doesn't currently exist). At best, the updated chip will allow the units to process Siri commands on device (as per the Watch S9) so it will be able to disappoint you faster than the current model...

Surely, surely Apple will allow the next Apple TV, large HomePod or forthcoming Homehub act as Apple Intelligence hubs, so queries to HomePod Minis can be passed to the Apple Intelligence hub for processing and then the output passed back. If this doesn't happen, then it's damming proof that even after 18 months of trying to come up with a genAI/LLM strategy, apple still isn't linking things together.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Good point Steve has here about this rumored update.

 

[irrg]

I really hope that the whole "use two HomePod Minis as a stereo pair" thing is maintained in a way where I can buy two NEW HomePod Minis and use the old ones as the second HomePod in the pair, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[TVreporter]

Incompatible as a stereo pair? If they improve audio quality, then pairing different quality speakers wouldn't produce a perfectly symmetrical sound which would make it much more complicated to control and probably produce non-ideal results regardless.
Probably the only way they'll be compatible is if Apple doesn't improve the audio quality.

I meant more communicating with each other if needed especially with Homekit Devices.

Yes if they improve audio quality (not likely) then no they wouldnt work paired.

 

[dustin.haley]

If the other products are getting all these significantly upgraded chips, why can't the next generation iWatch share in the bounty?

Historically Apple doesn’t upgrade the processing component of the chip inside the Apple Watch on a yearly basis - it’s every 2-3 years.

 

[subjonas]

I meant more communicating with each other if needed especially with Homekit Devices.

Yes if they improve audio quality (not likely) then no they wouldnt work paired.

Oh I see. I’m sure they’ll be able to communicate with each other for things like intercom.

 

[MacWorks916]

Doesn’t mean anything as long as you still have to manually select your HomePod every time you want audio to play through it. Apple wake up!

 

[alchemistmuffin]

We don't know much about the HomePod mini 2 aside from the fact that it's going to get an updated chip, but rumors have suggested that it will also feature a new Apple-designed Wi-Fi and Bluetooth combo chip with Wi-Fi 6E support. New color options are also a possibility.

Actually, it’ll likely go further, it will have support for Apple Intelligence for first time.

 

[applefan8254]

Can we get Siri remote compatibility? So we can pair it with the Siri remote or a Bluetooth remote and just effortlessly change the volume or skip tracks without saying anything

 

[Stuipdboy1000]

I seems clear these new units will not support Apple Intelligence natively due to the lack of A18 with 8+ GB RAM (or watch equivalent, that doesn't currently exist). At best, the updated chip will allow the units to process Siri commands on device (as per the Watch S9) so it will be able to disappoint you faster than the current model...

Surely, surely Apple will allow the next Apple TV, large HomePod or forthcoming Homehub act as Apple Intelligence hubs, so queries to HomePod Minis can be passed to the Apple Intelligence hub for processing and then the output passed back. If this doesn't happen, then it's damming proof that even after 18 months of trying to come up with a genAI/LLM strategy, apple still isn't linking things together.

This is what I'm thinking too. With much improved networking capabilities supposedly coming in this new model I can see all the AI being handed off to a nearby Apple TV or iPhone, much like how Workout Buddy in watchOS 26 is being powered by a nearby iPhone.

Either that or it relies solely on on-device processing for basic tasks (turn lights on and off, play music) and hands off heavier tasks to Private Cloud Compute, although I get the impression Apple sees PCC as something that manages complex tasks rather than requests from unsupported hardware.