Apple could launch its first smart display as soon as next year. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes Apple is preparing a HomePod with a 7-inch display for H1 2024.
Launching a smart display under the HomePod branding is seemingly a part of Apple’s new smart home strategy.
Two weeks after its announcement, the HomePod 2 is officially on sale and hitting retail stores in the US, Canada, Australia, and other markets. Customers around the world are also receiving their HomePod 2 pre-orders.
Apple started accepting HomePod 2 pre-orders soon after its announcement. If you placed your order early, your unit should also show up today.
Although the HomePod mini played a key role in helping Apple make inroads in the smart speaker market, the company is reportedly not working on a second-generation model.
Apple launched the HomePod mini in October 2020 with a $99 price tag, which made it much more affordable than the full-size speaker.
Don’t think you’re going to add a new HomePod 2 to your original HomePod to make a stereo pair. It’s not possible because pairs can only be made with two of the same model.
It’s not a new limitation – a first-generation HomePod can’t be in a stereo pair with a HomePod mini, either. But many people might be unaware of the restriction.
The debut of HomePod mini brought a big jump in sales that continues almost a year later. Shipments of Apple’s smart speakers increased a whopping 92% last quarter when compared to the same period of 2020.
And HomePod mini was the second best selling smart speaker globally.
If your HomePod has had problems playing podcasts recently, it might need the software update Apple released Wednesday. It brings the full-size and pint-size audio devices up to version 15.1.1.
It doesn’t include any new features, though.
Apple reportedly hired Afrooz Family as its new head of software development for the HomePod. He’s supposedly been tasked with making the smart speaker a stronger rival for Amazon’s and Google’s products.
That would be something of a turnaround for the product.
Apple smart speakers will be able to play Apple Music’s lossless audio after an upcoming software update. Both HomePod and HomePod mini will get support for the high-quality audio format, according to Apple.
This is good news for HomePod owners who may have been feeling disgruntled about being left out of a signature new Apple Music feature.
Apple smart speakers got a fresh software update on Tuesday. It brings the full-size and pint-size devices up to HomePod Software Version 14.3.
Both sizes of Apple’s smart speaker got an update to HomePod Software Version 14.2.1 on Monday. The new system software promises just general improvements. It’s not yet known if that includes squashing a reported bug in Wi-Fi connectivity for the HomePod mini.
