Rumors about a smaller HomePod always seem to be hanging around, but no actual leaks or supply chain info to back it up have really emerged. I've occasionally read that this is simply because the supply chain isn't as 'leaky' as for iPhone and other Apple products, but I'm skeptical even though the rumor gets repeated often.
Obviously Apple could surprise us all this year, but with COVID throwing another wrench into things, I'm hypothesizing that a smaller HomePod -- if prototypes ever existed and formed the basis for these sketchy rumors -- has now been more or less permanently put on hold.
Would love to hear what others think or if I've missed some piece of the rumor trail. Is anyone waiting for this product & hoping it's real?? I would love one in my home office (where I don't need quite the same immersive sound experience) and in the bathroom so I can listen to music & podcasts getting ready in the morning. But, with the HomePod now regularly on sale for $199, I think the most I'd want to pay is about $100, maybe $120.
I got really curious today and thought I'd pull together the bread crumbs in one place for the rest of you:
Back in August, Bloomberg (Wu and Gurman) reported "A smaller HomePod speaker is in the works, too." That was it. No actual or new details. It was said they'd launch with the new Watch SE and Watch 6. Nope!
Then Macrumors picked it up and repeated it, barely tacking it on to a long sentence about the watch, over the ear headphones, "and a smaller, more affordable HomePod." Here there's conjecture that it will also have a smaller pricetag, seemingly pure speculation -- although reasonable to assume, I guess.
Going back further, in April Macrumors mentioned that 9to5Mac reported one is coming, citing code in iOS 13.4 that referenced two different models. No repeated rumors and today we're now on iOS 14. Haven't seen a repeat of this existing in iOS 14 code at all, but not sure who would be looking.
In the same post, MR links to another post from the same day that cites Bloomberg again which says the smaller Homepod has faced "months of delays"... and the Bloomberg article cited didn't have much information beyond saying they spoke to "development sources" about this.
But that MR post does link to a post which then links to a real rumor from back in March 2018 via Mac Otakara (months of delays? more like years):
So, that's as far back as I went. I think this March 2018 rumor has been feeding everyone for 2 years. At this point, I think new reporting on this rumor should really say something like "rumored for over 2 years with few corroborating details"! I don't think it's coming, but won't say never since its first launch was pretty stealth too.
Obviously Apple could surprise us all this year, but with COVID throwing another wrench into things, I'm hypothesizing that a smaller HomePod -- if prototypes ever existed and formed the basis for these sketchy rumors -- has now been more or less permanently put on hold.
Would love to hear what others think or if I've missed some piece of the rumor trail. Is anyone waiting for this product & hoping it's real?? I would love one in my home office (where I don't need quite the same immersive sound experience) and in the bathroom so I can listen to music & podcasts getting ready in the morning. But, with the HomePod now regularly on sale for $199, I think the most I'd want to pay is about $100, maybe $120.
I got really curious today and thought I'd pull together the bread crumbs in one place for the rest of you:
Back in August, Bloomberg (Wu and Gurman) reported "A smaller HomePod speaker is in the works, too." That was it. No actual or new details. It was said they'd launch with the new Watch SE and Watch 6. Nope!
Then Macrumors picked it up and repeated it, barely tacking it on to a long sentence about the watch, over the ear headphones, "and a smaller, more affordable HomePod." Here there's conjecture that it will also have a smaller pricetag, seemingly pure speculation -- although reasonable to assume, I guess.
Going back further, in April Macrumors mentioned that 9to5Mac reported one is coming, citing code in iOS 13.4 that referenced two different models. No repeated rumors and today we're now on iOS 14. Haven't seen a repeat of this existing in iOS 14 code at all, but not sure who would be looking.
In the same post, MR links to another post from the same day that cites Bloomberg again which says the smaller Homepod has faced "months of delays"... and the Bloomberg article cited didn't have much information beyond saying they spoke to "development sources" about this.
But that MR post does link to a post which then links to a real rumor from back in March 2018 via Mac Otakara (months of delays? more like years):
So, that's as far back as I went. I think this March 2018 rumor has been feeding everyone for 2 years. At this point, I think new reporting on this rumor should really say something like "rumored for over 2 years with few corroborating details"! I don't think it's coming, but won't say never since its first launch was pretty stealth too.
