Apple recently announced a boatload of new AI features, including a souped-up Siri with expanded capabilities and more natural conversational skills. These upgrades will be released for iPhone, iPad, and Mac later this year – but sadly, other Apple devices aren’t invited to the AI party, at least for now.
That’s a shame, especially for HomePod users. Apple’s smart speaker relies on Siri for everything. And honestly? It’s not that great. Current-generation Siri has many shortcomings, but they feel more pronounced on HomePod, a device with speech as a primary interface method. Nowhere would improvements to Siri be felt more, and I’m not the only one who feels that way.
Unfortunately, the processing power in the HomePod – both models – just isn’t powerful enough to support the AI-powered Siri upgrades. Fair enough. But could a more powerful HomePod be on the horizon to solve these issues?
That was my first thought when I first glanced the latest Apple press release, which introduces a new HomePod mini. Excitement. There have been rumors of a major HomePod update for a while now, with a more powerful chip and a touchscreen display amongst other improvements. Could this be it?
Spoiler: nope.
Apple’s press release is one of the least significant I’ve ever read. It simply wanted to inform the world that as of July 17th, HomePod mini is available in a new Midnight color, replacing the virtually indistinguishable Space Gray option which has been available since the product’s launch in 2020. The same product, painted a slightly different shade of black to match the larger HomePod, available from July 17th. How’s that for big news?
It’s bizarre, really. I can only imagine the timing of this is purely to remind people that HomePod mini exists. But to me, the lack of real news only brings HomePod’s shortcomings into clearer focus.
Even so, HomePod mini is a smart speaker that looks good, sounds good, is reasonably priced ($99/£99), and now available in Midnight. Certainly a lot to love. But until we get some serious Siri upgrades, I wouldn’t exactly call it “smart.”