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Apple revealed yesterday that its next event, in which it will unveil the iPhone 12, will take place on October 13. In addition to the new iPhones, there are a number of potential product announcements, with speculations spanning a HomePod mini, a full-size HomePod 2, AirPods Studio headphones, AirTag tracking tiles, and a new Apple TV and Siri remote.
On the HomePod front, a trusted leaker has tweeted a yes to a HomePod mini and a no to an updated version of the full-size speaker …
Leaker @ L0vetodream sometimes posts cryptically, but no interpretation required for this tweet.
no HomePod2 this year
I only have a mini one
His track record includes the Big Sur name, iPhone SE 2020 features, Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro release date, blue color option for Apple Watch Series 6, and a range of macOS 11, iOS 14, and watchOS features 7..
Although Apple does not disclose unit sales for the HomePod, the widely held view is that the company was disappointed with the sales. Apple officially lowered the price from $ 349 to $ 299 last year after many third-party retailers had been offering it at a lower price for some time, suggesting that the Cupertino company was cutting the wholesale price.
What to expect from a HomePod mini in terms of size or price has yet to be said. Speculation has spread everywhere, from a somewhat smaller unit priced at $ 199, to something perhaps half the size and power of the existing model, priced closer to $ 149.
Part of the challenge for Apple has been the availability of much cheaper and nominally smarter smart speakers, like Amazon’s Echo range. While these don’t come close to matching the HomePod’s audio performance, many have simply looked at ‘smart speaker’ and the price, and dismissed Apple’s offering as too expensive on that basis.
Another possible announcement at next week’s event is an update to Apple Silicon Macs, but my money would be on the company saving this for a separate event later in the year, which I consider a better approach.
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