Gurman: Apple isn’t working on a new HomePod MINI

IT House News on January 22, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman said that Apple is not developing a new HomePod mini.

In the latest “Power On” newsletter, Gurman said he doesn’t think Apple is “aggressively” developing a successor to the HomePod mini.

Apple released the new HomePod a few days ago, and users began to wonder about the update of the mini model. But at this point, I don’t believe Apple is actively developing such a product. The latest HomePod doesn’t add new features that aren’t in the $99 mini model, so there’s not an obvious reason to update that model. Of course, it would be nice to have more colors, a cheaper price, and better sound and microphones, but the real improvements may need to be made on the back end — integration with Siri and apps.

The HomePod mini was announced at Apple’s iPhone 12 launch event in October 2020. Less than six months later, Apple discontinued the original HomePod, leaving the HomePod mini as the company’s only smart speaker on sale until this week when Apple reintroduced the new, full-size HomePod.

The just-launched HomePod offers a ton of features previously exclusive to the HomePod mini, including an Apple Watch S-series chip, U1 ultra-wideband chip, Thread support, temperature and humidity sensors, and a larger backlit touchscreen.

IT Home learned that Gurman broke the news in August 2022 that Apple was considering launching a new version of the HomePod mini in the future, but he did not provide a specific time frame or details about potential new features, saying only that the update is not big. , but those plans now appear to have been shelved.