In the latest edition of his “Power On” newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said he thinks Apple isn’t working on a successor to the HomePod mini, as has been previously anticipated.
From his report: After the debut of a new full-sized HomePod, many users started asking about an update to the mini model. But at this point, I don’t believe that Apple is actively working on such as product. The latest HomePod doesn’t include any major new functions that aren’t already in the $99 mini, so there isn’t an obvious reason to update the model. Sure, it would be nice to get more colors, a cheaper price, and better sound and microphones, but the real improvements probably need to be made on the back end — with Siri and app integration.
As far as the new full-size HomePod introduced last week, Gurman says the new model has essentially the same functionality and use case as the original, raising the question of why the 2018 version was discontinued in the first place.
Again, here’s from Gurman’s report: My take is that Apple never truly wanted to ax the previous HomePod but had no choice if the company ever wanted the lineup to be a success.
By the time 2021 came around, supplies of the original device had begun to fill up warehouses, consumers flocked to competing products, and Apple loyalists preferred the cheaper $99 HomePod mini. Any momentum that the original HomePod had was gone.
It didn’t help that the product was slower to launch than Amazon.com Inc. versions and was initially priced at an excessive $350. The software on the device didn’t support many third-party apps or any rival streaming music services, and the speaker didn’t play well with outside smart-home technology.
That has all changed since then, giving the new HomePod a better chance for success. Another major factor: Amazon and Alphabet Inc.’s Google are reconsidering their approaches to hardware, spurred in part by the economic downturn. That gives Apple some room to make headway in the home market.
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