Ming-Chi Kuo has been active on Twitter and it isn't always clear where data analysis ends and speculation begins. His information as an analyst has proven accurate in the past, but he tends to miss on specific details surrounding a device's feature set.
For example, Kuo's recent tweets claim Apple could move the "iPhone 15" to USB-C in 2023 and other Apple products will follow suit. This is in direct opposition to his previous rumors of Apple avoiding USB-C in favor of a portless device.
In regard to the above, “This is in direct opposition to his previous rumors of Apple avoiding USB-C in favor of a portless device”. … Ming-Chi Quo hasn’t changed his mind. “Analysis, opinion, and speculation” can change over time, and he is reporting the most recent version of the ‘news’. Example, six months ago everyone thought that the iPhone 15 would translation the product from Lightning to portless. Now, the EU is exploring regulations to standardise charging connectors for phones, and potentially creating a law that all phones sold new in the European Union must use USB-C. So if this becomes a law, Apple going portless can’t happen, because they will be required by EU law to sell EU phones with a USB-C port.
So again, Kuo hasn’t changed his mind. He is just reporting the newest information.
Apple can’t figure out how to succeed? This is a totally different product than their other offerings, but they don’t realize that.
Make them affordable to 80% of us, instead of target the richest 5%.
competition is at a *much* lower price point, and the audio qualities at those low points is pretty darn good. You also might not want or need a fancy speaker in each room. With Amazon’s Alexa, you can have nice speakers in a room where you play music a lot, and cheap speakers in the kids room, the shed, or anywhere else where quality isn’t important.
Stop with the richest 5% noise. HomePod Minis are $99 for crying out loud. Apple does not need to be in the race to the bottom.
Exactly, Apple can cover more than one market segment. The original Homepod is great in many ways (and would benefit from a major Siri makeover). It was priced well for its sound quality regardless of what some people on this board think. The Minis cover the lower end very nicely and I think they sound pretty great for their size and price. There are so many other audio areas Apple could venture into - but which one? A high quality AV sound bar with Atmos strikes me as something that might make sense. Devialet just released a high end soundbar with 17 drivers in a
5.1.2 surround-channel configuration. It costs $2400 so I figure Apple with their enormous resources could probably make something similar for substantially less. It would of course act as Homekit hub and maybe even do other things as well. I would be happy with an upgraded original Homepod with it's big, big sound.
I have two HomePods, no minis. The original $349 buy in was far too rich for what it seemed to offer. Most early reports were lackluster at best so I wasn't to enthusiastic about paying bleeding edge prices.
Eventually a lot of users were making very favorable recommendations so when BB had there $199 sales, I got two.
The sound it pretty good, but they can't be connected to my TV so that utility is absent. If I had paid $349, they would have been the least bang for the buck Apple product I've ever owned. This would be mitigated greatly if Siri wasn't abysmal. As is HomePod Siri becomes Mistress Siri, the Dom over all other Apple devices. iPhone Siri possesses some competency but HomePod Siri is basically non-compos mentis.
I can't possibly imagine what Apple could do with a new HomePod that would make me throw my money at them, especially considering the price will be upwards of $400 my guess. A HomePod Siri approaching the level of Alexa would go a long ways to making the HP viable to me. More features without more Siri won't do a thing for me.
I recently replaced by LG Soundbar with two original HomePods and the sound far exceeds the very expensive soundbar. The original HomePod was punished because of Siri. It did not deserve to be cut. Outstanding device. I hope they bring it back again. I will love my two HomePods for the next 10 years.
Give Siri the loves she needs and let the HomePod live. The mini is great but doesn't beat two original HomePods for TV sound. The combination works great with the Apple TV too. OLED TV, Apple TV, two HomePods... for our small apartment that set up cannot be beat.
I bought seven HomePods are they are great but I like all my Sonos stuff better (some later model Sonos are compatible with Airplay). So my four large HomePods are stored away in a box and I only use the three minis for HomeKit thread
You gotta be kidding. I threw both my Sonos One (latest ed.) speakers out as soon as I heard the music quality of my HomePods. Nobody with a pair of functional ears could think differently. I actually don’t even believe you, jamnap.
Maybe it will be a HopePod Soundbar (w/integrated Apple TV).
That would be a good product imho. I use my two HomePods as speakers for one of my TVs. It makes a big improvement.
Unfortunately this is only possible when using an AppleTV to feed the TV.
Thankfully, that is not true anymore. The 2022 ATV has eARC, which allows any program playing on the TV to output sound through the HomePods connected to the ATV.
I hardly think $299 for the original HomePod was overpriced. It was actually pretty good value. Sound quality was awesome and it was a very well-engineered little speaker and even used a one generation-old 'A" processor when launched.
I picked up my second HomePod from Best Buy when they ran one of their oft-repeated sales for $199. That made it an incredible value.
The sound quality was great, but for those of us who would want need a pair of speakers, it was a $598 purchase and not $299. That was a bit too much for me, and now I'm pretty happy with my pair of Minis.
Absolutely. But in part of the audio world, $598 for a pair of speakers is entry to mid level. Everyone has their own personal budget and makes their own value decisions.
I may think an S Class Mercedes is out of my budget or more car than I want, but I would never say that it is overpriced.
I totally agree. Too much for me but not overpriced.
...was a deal breaker for me too, and in an ideal world (for me) there would be a SIri off or Siri-less audio focussed version that could lossless Dolby ATMOS over wifi - to other homepods (of course), AirPlay speakers & Airport Express (for even higher quality 3rd party audiophile) for less proprietary flexibility beyond the limitations of the Apple products...
I hardly think $299 for the original HomePod was overpriced. It was actually pretty good value. Sound quality was awesome and it was a very well-engineered little speaker and even used a one generation-old 'A" processor when launched.
I picked up my second HomePod from Best Buy when they ran one of their oft-repeated sales for $199. That made it an incredible value.
The sound quality was great, but for those of us who would want need a pair of speakers, it was a $598 purchase and not $299. That was a bit too much for me, and now I'm pretty happy with my pair of Minis.
Absolutely. But in part of the audio world, $598 for a pair of speakers is entry to mid level. Everyone has their own personal budget and makes their own value decisions.
I may think an S Class Mercedes is out of my budget or more car than I want, but I would never say that it is overpriced.
I totally agree. Too much for me but not overpriced.
At that mid level and up price, a speaker will last 10 plus years easy, which is why I don’t understand the incessant crying about the price of a well made curated speaker or monitor released by Apple, most have been long lasting products with high resale value, when compared to PC hardware. (Apple HiFi still works very well to this day).
Where Apple is falling down is in the choice of inputs and outputs on some if not most of their hardware devices, the lack MagSafe on that new monitor is criminal, the proper wired connections on any mid to high end device is critical because in the long term not even Apple can be relied on to support it thru software (Bluetooth/Wi-Fi) only over time……
An updated HomePod is music to my ears. I am fanatical about my HomePods (2x large, 2 minis) and they are integrated into our everyday life. The kids love the empowering freedom to interact with Siri, play their favourite music and ask silly questions. I am a huge fan of the original HomePods.. so much better than the minis. No-one drops it like its hot like the old HomePod.
Quite a few friends that have gotten Alexa or google assistant driven devices are disappointed so it feels like the time is right to target potential switchers with HomePod + Apple Music Siri edition. Better and cheaper than Alexa and Amazon Music.
For me Siri has become "wonky" lately and too many commands still rely on network rather than on device processing. I would be super happy and very tempted to upgrade my estate if:
1) Massively beefed up on-device ML processing for dramatically improved on-device Siri experience - this is really key above and beyond price point and better audio.
2) Improve Siri repertoire of commands, sentences and hooks into the broader iCloud universe. I want to increasingly talk to my devices for more tasks as my hands tend to be full and need to act on different things.
3) Consider making UWB standard for all HomePods and thus enable "follow-me" functionality for music, news, commands etc so that HomePods pick up streams as I walk around the house and the music naturally flows with me rather than having to play everywhere to get the full house vibe.
4) Accelerate HomePod ML driven microphone safety features.. listen for calls for help and other noise triggers could be a great complement to video cameras etc. Also the HomePod packs enough oomph to be a useful siren.
5) Apple Watch -> HomePod audio. May be there already - I Forget
6) Thread support in the large one and perhaps zigbee since so many IoT devices still use it
6) Further investment in the Home software stack and feature set. Barely scratching the surface of the art of the possible.
Maybe it will be a HopePod Soundbar (w/integrated Apple TV).
That would be a good product imho. I use my two HomePods as speakers for one of my TVs. It makes a big improvement.
Unfortunately this is only possible when using an AppleTV to feed the TV.
Thankfully, that is not true anymore. The 2022 ATV has eARC, which allows any program playing on the TV to output sound through the HomePods connected to the ATV.
Let me rephrase then: Unfortunately only possible when you use an ATV in some backdoor, convoluted configuration that requires a vulcan neck pinch to work. Other than that, it's great.
I'd like to see Apple acquire Pandora because I've always enjoyed Pandora's discovery/music-genealogy based model. As much as I hate to say it, Siri on HomePod is rather pathetic. Rather than trying to make Siri on HomePod functionally equivalent to Alexa on Echo, Apple should create a Siri-like persona for HomePod (with a new name) that is a music savant powered by the discovery logic that Pandora possesses. I'd like to be able to say "Hey Tunes, I really liked that last track, can you find me more music like that."
Well, that would mean SXM would have to decide to part with Pandora as they are the owners of Pandora. Highly unlikely.
The original HomePod offered an incredible bang for the buck - when paired. Buying only one was a waste of money, for these purposes you are much better if with a single HomePod mini.
Two HomePods connected to an Apple support true Dolby Atmos and older surround formats too. The sound of two HomePods for music and home theater is absolutely stunning and gets fairly close to much more expensive setups such as a Sonos Arc + Subwoofer. And then, it’s a true Smart Speaker that is HomeKit integrated, offers Siri, works in conjunction with other HomePod/mini in the house seamlessly. There is no other product that combines all of these functions.
Two HomePods where 600 Dollars and this is cheap compared to what you get from the competition. The bass output is so powerful and good in quality I sometimes wonder if someone has hidden a subwoofer in my living room. I am very happy to hear Apple might revive the HomePod because currently, I wouldn’t know with what to replace mine.
Comments
Exactly, Apple can cover more than one market segment. The original Homepod is great in many ways (and would benefit from a major Siri makeover). It was priced well for its sound quality regardless of what some people on this board think. The Minis cover the lower end very nicely and I think they sound pretty great for their size and price. There are so many other audio areas Apple could venture into - but which one? A high quality AV sound bar with Atmos strikes me as something that might make sense. Devialet just released a high end soundbar with 17 drivers in a 5.1.2 surround-channel configuration. It costs $2400 so I figure Apple with their enormous resources could probably make something similar for substantially less. It would of course act as Homekit hub and maybe even do other things as well. I would be happy with an upgraded original Homepod with it's big, big sound.
Eventually a lot of users were making very favorable recommendations so when BB had there $199 sales, I got two.
The sound it pretty good, but they can't be connected to my TV so that utility is absent. If I had paid $349, they would have been the least bang for the buck Apple product I've ever owned. This would be mitigated greatly if Siri wasn't abysmal. As is HomePod Siri becomes Mistress Siri, the Dom over all other Apple devices. iPhone Siri possesses some competency but HomePod Siri is basically non-compos mentis.
I can't possibly imagine what Apple could do with a new HomePod that would make me throw my money at them, especially considering the price will be upwards of $400 my guess. A HomePod Siri approaching the level of Alexa would go a long ways to making the HP viable to me. More features without more Siri won't do a thing for me.
Give Siri the loves she needs and let the HomePod live. The mini is great but doesn't beat two original HomePods for TV sound. The combination works great with the Apple TV too. OLED TV, Apple TV, two HomePods... for our small apartment that set up cannot be beat.
Hopefully they will release any new HomePod at a reasonable price and in the same countries as most of their other products are sold.
Where Apple is falling down is in the choice of inputs and outputs on some if not most of their hardware devices, the lack MagSafe on that new monitor is criminal, the proper wired connections on any mid to high end device is critical because in the long term not even Apple can be relied on to support it thru software (Bluetooth/Wi-Fi) only over time……
Quite a few friends that have gotten Alexa or google assistant driven devices are disappointed so it feels like the time is right to target potential switchers with HomePod + Apple Music Siri edition. Better and cheaper than Alexa and Amazon Music.
For me Siri has become "wonky" lately and too many commands still rely on network rather than on device processing. I would be super happy and very tempted to upgrade my estate if:
1) Massively beefed up on-device ML processing for dramatically improved on-device Siri experience - this is really key above and beyond price point and better audio.
2) Improve Siri repertoire of commands, sentences and hooks into the broader iCloud universe. I want to increasingly talk to my devices for more tasks as my hands tend to be full and need to act on different things.
3) Consider making UWB standard for all HomePods and thus enable "follow-me" functionality for music, news, commands etc so that HomePods pick up streams as I walk around the house and the music naturally flows with me rather than having to play everywhere to get the full house vibe.
4) Accelerate HomePod ML driven microphone safety features.. listen for calls for help and other noise triggers could be a great complement to video cameras etc. Also the HomePod packs enough oomph to be a useful siren.
5) Apple Watch -> HomePod audio. May be there already - I Forget
6) Thread support in the large one and perhaps zigbee since so many IoT devices still use it
6) Further investment in the Home software stack and feature set. Barely scratching the surface of the art of the possible.
Two HomePods connected to an Apple support true Dolby Atmos and older surround formats too. The sound of two HomePods for music and home theater is absolutely stunning and gets fairly close to much more expensive setups such as a Sonos Arc + Subwoofer. And then, it’s a true Smart Speaker that is HomeKit integrated, offers Siri, works in conjunction with other HomePod/mini in the house seamlessly. There is no other product that combines all of these functions.