I have no interest in these unless I'm able to use a pair as speakers for my Mac Studio.
Such a missed opportunity.
Such a missed opportunity.
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New HomePod Mini Coming Soon With These Features
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Apple TV won’t have Apple Intelligence either. These are shared devices. Apple Intelligence and personal context are, well, personal, and while shared devices should have live activities that can utilize App Intents and queries to access apps capabilities and personal information from your iPhone when you’re nearby, they don’t need AI themselves for that.
Do you have “recognize my voice” and “personal content” enabled?
Re: improved latency... Does that mean when using the next HomePod mini as a speaker for gaming, that it will not suck as bad as the current HomePod mini?
My 15 yo son has an M2 Mac mini. He spends the majority of his walking life in Minecraft (via his friend's server). I made the mistake (I did NOT research it at all) of getting him a Homepod mini for xmas last year with the intent that he could use it to improve his audio when gaming. Xmas morning, we got it all connected and immediately learned that the latency was a deal breaker. While he did keep it for music in his room, it was a bit of a bust. Oops.
My 15 yo son has an M2 Mac mini. He spends the majority of his walking life in Minecraft (via his friend's server). I made the mistake (I did NOT research it at all) of getting him a Homepod mini for xmas last year with the intent that he could use it to improve his audio when gaming. Xmas morning, we got it all connected and immediately learned that the latency was a deal breaker. While he did keep it for music in his room, it was a bit of a bust. Oops.
The s9 is derived from the A16 actually.
Apple is expected to announce a new HomePod mini imminently, headlining with new chips. Here are all of the new features we're expecting.
The second-generation HomePod mini is highly likely to contain a more up-to-date chip for more advanced computational audio and improved responsiveness. The current HomePod mini is equipped with the Apple Watch Series 5's S5 chip from 2019. Apple is likely to opt for the S9 chip, which was a considerable leap forward in terms of performance, or one of its derivatives such as the S10, which is a more compact iteration of the S9.
The S5 chip in the HomePod mini is derived from Apple's A12 Bionic architecture but runs at lower clock speeds and is tuned for always-on, low-power operation, making it well-suited for tasks like Siri processing and real-time audio tuning. In contrast, the S9 and S10 chips are based on the A13 chip, offering higher CPU and GPU performance, a more advanced Neural Engine, and greater efficiency per watt.
The new HomePod mini will be equipped with the N1 Apple-designed Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The chip supports Wi-Fi 6E, which is much faster and has lower latency compared to the current HomePod mini's Wi-Fi 4 connectivity. Wi-Fi 6E extends the capabilities of Wi-Fi 6 to the 6 GHz band, enabling faster wireless speeds and reduced signal interference with a compatible router.
Apple could also bring its second-generation Ultra Wideband chip to the HomePod mini for a more reliable and lower-latency Handoff experience. The chip debuted in 2023's iPhone 15 lineup. If present, the chip should allow far more precise spatial awareness than the current model, allowing it to detect the exact position and orientation of nearby devices within a few centimeters.
New color options are also highly likely, but specific finishes are not yet known other than red, which was reportedly in testing. The current HomePod mini comes in Blue, Yellow, Midnight, Orange, and White.
Gurman says that, just like the next-generation Apple TV, the new HomePod mini "will be built with Apple's new smart home ecosystem in mind." It is unclear if the next HomePod mini will have Siri improvements. Unlike Apple's long-rumored smart home hub product, the new HomePod mini is not expected to get Apple Intelligence support.
Recently, Apple retailer B&H started listing all HomePod mini models as discontinued. Some other retailers are also listing the HomePod mini as out of stock or on backorder, which suggests that a refresh is set to take place soon. Gurman believes that a new HomePod mini "shouldn't be far off" amid tightening inventory and planned Apple Store refreshes.
Article Link: New HomePod Mini Coming Soon With These Features
Someone online said they would shave themselves naked if it wasn’t released today. They better keep their word.
I'll believe it when I see it. I lost my trust in MR when they said 26.0.2 was coming soon...
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iOS 26.0.2 Update for iPhones Coming Soon
Apple's software engineers continue to internally test iOS 26.0.2, according to MacRumors logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions. iOS 26.0.2 will be a minor update that addresses bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, but we do not know any specific details yet. The...
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- Moving from Wi-Fi 4 to 6 is, first of all is NOT an upgrade...Wifi 6 is standard on everything these days. Remember, the Homepod was released more than 5 years ago!
- Even going from Wifi4 to 6 is not a selling point in regards to a faster experience. Wifi4 tops out at 600Mb/s which is far, far, faster than 90% of home internet pipes in the USA...and even if the ISP pumps it faster than 600, what percentage of home users have a fast enough router to push 600+? We all love faster tech, but given what the Homepod is doing, even 100Mb/s is plenty fast.
- Upgraded CPU? Who cares? As long as the darn thing does what it's supposed to (which seems to be back end Q&A in some massive datacenter). So that's not a selling point.
- Price would be a selling point. Keep it at $99.
- Flexibility/connectivity to other (older?) Homepods would be nice to read about.
- Tell me why its AI (or whatever you want to call it) is better than Amazon or Google that have both had monumental success (I still have the original Amazon Echo and it's fantastic answering questions).
- It would be really cool if it had a battery...maybe it only lasts 2 hours...but enough time to move my Homepod(s) to another room/outdoors for a party (and plug it back into a/c) without forcing it to reboot. I wish the Amazon units had this feature.
- It would be very nice if I could set up some kind of routine for it to do everyday. For example, wake me up at 7am while tuned to this radio station. Once I disable the alarm, tell me things...did I miss any calls while I slept?...miss any texts? what's the weather going to be today? Do I have any reminders I set up? If yesterday was election day, offer to tell me who won. etc.
Someone tell me who actually needs or wants one of these and what do they actually do? I can’t see a single use for them that can’t already be done say on your phone?
I can't speak for the Homepod line...but the Amazon Echo we've had for 11 years is awesome. Our main 2 uses are:
1)Playing music (either stream from Amazon or bluetooth from your iPhone or whatever)...especially if we have parties or events at our house.
2)Answering questions...just say "Alexa...who won the Red Sox game last night?" and you'll have your answer in 1 second.
For under $150, I would recommend these kind of devices to anyone. Also, unlike an iPhone, I don't need to touch the Echo at all.
It would be more interesting if they were updating a speaker you could actually listen to instead of this joke of a loudspeaker. The HomePod is much more worthy of their attention for me and as Apple continue to ignore the HomePod (which sounds extremely good for a sub $500 loudspeaker) I find myself drifting more to Sonos as time goes by, who make speakers that actually sound reasonable and you can listen to and not this squeak box.
How about listing to music? Unless you're OK with the audio quality when listening to music directly from your phone's tiny speaker.
one of my minis is bricked and showing me the red light of death and the other still works as a speaker but Siri doesn’t respond anymore
these were a cheaper alternative to a sound bar for my TV when used as a stereo so im happy to purchase 2 new ones esp in new colors
these were a cheaper alternative to a sound bar for my TV when used as a stereo so im happy to purchase 2 new ones esp in new colors
They work as a homekit hub, and have temp/humidity sensors that you can use for routines. They also sound alright for music, compared to a crappy iPhone speaker, anyway.
Hub and temp/humidity is all I use mine for. I won't be buying another; overpriced for a "smart" speaker, and they don't work with Android, which my wife uses.
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This is great! It will be able to play my music faster.
I'll finally be able to listen to a 4 minute song in under 2 minutes.
I'll finally be able to listen to a 4 minute song in under 2 minutes.
You waited that long? I thinki lost trust when they said the car was just two years away. 🤣I'll believe it when I see it. I lost my trust in MR when they said 26.0.2 was coming soon...
iOS 26.0.2 Update for iPhones Coming Soon
Apple's software engineers continue to internally test iOS 26.0.2, according to MacRumors logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions. iOS 26.0.2 will be a minor update that addresses bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, but we do not know any specific details yet. The...
In any case, the clock is ticking. I want these announced at 1pm eastern today. Not tomorrow. Not Thursday...
Next year will be your lucky year cause with 26.4 Google Gemini will be the Siri AI-model.
For a smart speaker Siri needs to get one heck of a lot better than Google Gemini. I'd say that Google Assistant is actually the better smart speaker software to aspire to first and if it has extra context awareness and intent analysis from Gemini all the better but just Gemini on its own won't cut it.
Here's an example from literally seconds ago when I asked web-based Gemini when the next train is from my local train station into London. Gemini's answer (with some redactions to give fewer clues about my location) was...
In fairness Gemini did then ask me if I wanted it to try and look up the times itself and when I said yes it did give a seemingly correct answer but Google Assistant on my Nest device looked up the answer immediately without my needing to ask (probably by accessing Google Maps public transport info) and answered the question perfectly - "The best way to get into London is to catch the <train company> service departing <My Station> at <time>. It will take about <x> minutes to get there."
I suspect this might be why both Amazon and Apple seem to be taking so long to transition their smart assistants across to LLM-based technology. We all know the issues that Apple has been having but Amazon also announced an upcoming smarter Alexa at least a year ago, maybe even more like 2 years ago, but it still hasn't arrived yet with Amazon engineers apparently not satisfied with the quality of the responses. I haven't really followed where Google is at because I mostly use Alexa because it is so much more responsive and hears me better than my Nest devices even though if I ask it something complicated it is pretty bad.
There really does seem to be an awful lot of extra work that needs to be done beyond simply connecting an LLM to a microphone and a speaker in order to get it to give relevant, useful, concise human-like responses to voice queries.
Have you tried restoring it with a Mac? I had the same issue, but you can restore the Minis on a Mac if you connect them via the USB-C cable.
Erm, if moving from Wi-Fi 4 to 6 isn't an upgrade then what is it exactly, a nessesity?
What's a HomePod mini again. Some audio thing I guess.
Does it hook to my existing equipment? No.
Can it serve as a center channel? No.
Can it participate in surround sound? No.
Does it play over-the-air FM? No.
I guess that if you have nothing else listening to mono over the internet music seems like to good thing.
Does it hook to my existing equipment? No.
Can it serve as a center channel? No.
Can it participate in surround sound? No.
Does it play over-the-air FM? No.
I guess that if you have nothing else listening to mono over the internet music seems like to good thing.
So true.
I also use Sonos for music (Sonos Ones - I didn't feel the need to upgrade when Era 100/300 was released). I love them for casual music listening in my office, kitchen, bedroom etc but my one big disappointment with them is that, for the high price, I really expected them to have a high quality microphone array. That's pretty important if one enables the voice assistant on them but I actually find that they hear me less well than my Google/Nest devices and far less well than my Amazon Echo devices so I only use them for music playback (initiated via Roon) and still feel the need to have a separate Amazon Echo device in each room for my smart assistant stuff (asking questions, controlling lights etc).
I'm really hoping that the next HomePod Mini upgrade doesn't neglect the microphone array quality. Apple has microphones in pretty much all of its major product lines so it should have lots of expertise and buying power to implement really good mics, and upgrades in audio quality would be good too. And then, as you say, for goodness sake Apple do similar updates for the full-sized HomePod as well.