GoKawiilApple’s home products (primarily HomePod mini and Apple TV) have been the talk of the town for the past couple of years. The reasoning is quite simple: the current iterations are 4-6 years old.
Siri has been the holdup for new hardware releases, supposedly – but now that Siri AI is finally here, we should be seeing Apple finally start releasing some new Home products very soon. Here’s what’s in the pipeline.
Imminent release
First things first, HomePod mini and Apple TV 4K. These should debut later this fall, per current reporting.
HomePod mini should be receiving a bump from the S5 chip to the newer S9 chip, or potentially even better. There may be a few new color options, a new wireless chip (likely the same N1 we saw debut in the iPhone last year), and some audio improvements. It’ll be a modest improvement hardware wise, though the main hope is that Siri AI will be supported with this upcoming HomePod mini – making it a much more capable assistant.
Apple TV 4K, on the other hand, should be getting a bump from the A15 Bionic to the A17 Pro. It’ll honestly feel a bit dated since that’s a 3 year old chip already, but thats what’s been reported. Hopefully there’ll be something newer. Regardless, this chip bump will bring it up to spec for Siri AI, and should allow for some of the Apple Intelligence capabilities to run locally. There’s also been some reporting indicating there’ll be a tweaked remote design.
As of right now, HomePod mini comes in at $129, and Apple TV 4K starts at $199. These are the prices Apple introduced with its price hikes back in June, and these will hopefully remain stable with the upcoming hardware.
Not quite as soon
Apple’s first smart home hub has been in development for quite some time. There are two variants: one that’s purely a screen and attaches to walls with a magnetic system, and another that’s attached to a speaker base: think Google Nest Hub.
This product is set to debut “between October and early next year,” so it could potentially debut alongside the aforementioned HomePod mini and Apple TV 4K. To play it safe though, it’s in the not quite as soon category.
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