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HomePod Mini With Updated Chip Coming Soon

kiranmk2 said:
I seems clear these new units will not support Apple Intelligence natively due to the lack of A18 with 8+ GB RAM ...

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.
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I think that's definitely the way to go. Apple could 100% make the next HomePod Mini support Apple Intelligence natively but in my opinion it would be a pretty crazy thing to do because people seriously bought into smart speakers probably have one in most rooms in there home (like me) and personally to cost-optimise my setup I would not want every one of my HPM devices to be higher cost because of the extra processing power that Apple needed to put in to run Apple Intelligence. I'd far rather have your (and my) concept of putting computing power capable of running Apple Intelligence in a single device on my LAN.

Where you and I might differ though is that I lump the full sized HomePod in with the HomePod Mini in that I might have a few in rooms where I want the best HomePod sound I can get, in some rooms even stereo pairs, so I wouldn't want my full-sized HomePod purchase price increased due to more processing power. I do accept though that some smart home users might not want Apple TV. Maybe a solution would be two versions of the full-sized HomePod, one able to run Apple Intelligence locally and the other not?

Maybe that's too messy but - purely my personal preference - one way or another I would prefer the option to get even the full-sized HomePod only provisioned with the compute power appropriate to an edge device (thus keeping the retail price down) and have it hand off to a central AI compute server (e.g. Apple TV) to handle more complex stuff. Easy for me to say I suppose because I plan to buy the new Apple TV as soon as it is available.
 
Quotenfrau said:
it was not coming :-(

current release on "Not buy" list. What to do?
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Rumours are still around that Apple might launch it via a press release sometime in late October or November. There are also rumours that the new Apple TV will be released in roughly the same timeframe also via a press release not a full live launch event.

I'm in the same situation as you, I want to buy my first ever HomePod Mini (HPM) and my first ever Apple TV (ATV). I'm going to wait until at least mid November to see if these rumours come true.

I have more confidence about a new ATV in Oct/Nov than I have about the new HPM arriving then but I don't discount the possibility. My slightly lower confidence in the new HPM arriving this year is because, while we are pretty certain that it exists due to numerous rumours including references in Apple code to a new product number that matches the HPM product numbering conventions, it is also possible that Apple might want to hold off announcing a refresh of its HomePod range until it has the new improved Siri ready to ship which is rumoured to be in spring next year so I can imagine Apple holding off until it can do one big event next year to announce improved Siri, new HPM, the much rumoured new HomePod with display and perhaps other smart home stuff too.

I hope my alternative theory is wrong and we do get the HPM mini this year because I think it is worth waiting. If the rumours are true then apart from an upgraded S-Series processor the addition of the N1 wireless chip should give it more solid WiFi connectivity and I would be very surprised if Apple isn't able to also improve audio quality vs the current version.

It is entirely possible that my alternate theory is wrong by the way. The counter-argument I would use against myself is that Apple will lose some revenue by waiting until 2026 to release the HPM and also doesn't need to wait. It will lose revenue because of stalled sales of the current generation when everyone knows a new one exists and (perhaps) it doesn't need to wait because if it wants more to talk about at an event when it announces new improved Siri next year we are reasonably confident that it already has a new HomePod with display almost certainly ready to go by then but there are also rumours of other smart home products like a FaceID doorbell and maybe other stuff too so perhaps it could still create a compelling spring 2026 event focussed around home automation even if it lets the new HPM slip out early by releasing it this year.

TL;DR - Personally I'm definitely going to wait for the new HPM to arrive. I might re-assess in mid November as to whether I carry on waiting then but if I do decide to get the current version at that point I definitely won't be buying one new, I'll get a second hand or refurbished one to play around with until the new version is released.
 
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chineseguy38 said:
They better fix Siri first before releasing another HomePod. If not, HomePod is just a good speaker to play music.
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That’s all I need it to do. Play music. The HomePods I have seem to do that easily. I’m not saying other uses aren’t necessary, but for me that’s all I ask.
 
Ct applefan said:
That’s all I need it to do. Play music. The HomePods I have seem to do that easily. I’m not saying other uses aren’t necessary, but for me that’s all I ask.
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Yes but if you ask Siri to play a song, it kept on saying it can't be found in my music library without Apple Music subscription. It should be able to play my purchased tracks.
 
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