Hopefully you haven’t been waiting on a sequel to the Apple HomePod mini, the smaller version of Apple’s full-size HomePod from 2020. According to a reporter who’s intimately familiar with Apple, it’s not coming our way anytime soon.
The report comes from Bloomberg’s Power On newsletter written by Mark Gurman who believes that Apple isn’t actively working on a new mini model, or in his words, “At this point, I don’t believe that Apple is actively working on such a product”.
That’s interesting because Apple has a new larger HomePod on the way. The HomePod 2 comes out on February 3.
According to Gurman, the reason we won’t see another smaller sequel isn’t because the Apple HomePod mini isn’t successful, but rather he says that there’s no obvious room for improvement given the current hardware landscape out there. Essentially: the HomePod 2 borrows features from the HomePod mini but a potential HomePod mini 2 would have nothing to borrow from the HomePod 2.
Gurman: Apple is making your home its top priority
Despite there not being a new HomePod mini, Apple has plans to go harder on the smart home space. Gurman says there are “several devices” in the works, citing both the upcoming Apple TV set-top box and a low-end iPad that will work like a Facebook Portal device.
How those products will work and exactly when we’ll see them are a mystery.
Speaking of mysteries, Gurman has both some good and bad news about the Apple mixed reality glasses: the first model is going to be available later this year for around $3,000, but a cheaper headset is also in the works, too. That model won’t be available before 2027, but it would come in at half the price.
We’ll be keeping an eye out for more new Apple products (don’t forget today’s launch day for the Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch and Mac mini M2) and we’ll report back when we hear more.
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