A New HomePod mini Could Arrive In 2025 | Here’s What to Expect
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While Apple’s full-sized HomePod speaker has had a bit of a bumpy ride, the diminutive HomePod mini has become the steady foundation of Apple’s smart speakers. It’s been four years since the $99 softball-sized HomePod debuted, and while it’s remained mostly unchanged in that time, there’s arguably not much more Apple can do with the $99 speaker.
The HomePod mini was initially available only in space gray and white; Apple added a splash of color in 2021, marking that as the most significant hardware upgrade the product ever received. Earlier this year, Apple updated the space gray to midnight, and although that color change was barely noticeable, it included a shift to “100 percent recycled mesh fabric.”
The HomePod mini gained temperature and humidity sensing in mid-2023 via the HomePod 16.3 software update (along with iOS 16.3), but this merely took advantage of existing temperature and humidity sensors that were hidden in the product from the very start; an original HomePod mini bought on launch day in 2020 can use these features just as effectively as one purchased today.
Apple’s HomePods are a good example of how the company rarely refreshes products for their own sake, but rumors are starting to build that it may have a “HomePod mini 2” in store for next year. Details on what new features could be offered by a next-generation version are sparse, but Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has suggested they may be a proving ground for a next-generation wireless chip code-named “Proxima” that Apple is building in-house:
Apple will begin rolling out the combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip as part of new home devices scheduled for next year, including refreshed versions of its TV set-top box and HomePod mini smart speaker. It also aims to bring the component to iPhones later next year and to the iPad and Mac by 2026.
Mark Gurman
The Proxima chip is another prong in Apple’s plan to reduce its reliance on third-party chip suppliers. There have been plentiful reports of Apple’s work on a 5G modem chip for years, but its efforts to develop a Wi-Fi/Bluetooth chip seem to have flown under the radar until recently despite having been going on for just as long.
To be clear, these are independent projects, and as important as the 5G chip is, Proxima is even more significant. After all, only iPhones and some iPads need a 5G chip; Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are part of just about every product Apple makes, including the HomePod mini.
HomePods as Routers?
Apple’s work on Proxima has sparked speculation that the company could resurrect its AirPort router business. After all, if it’s developing its own Wi-Fi chips, what better place to use them? Apple killed the AirPort lineup in 2018 to refocus its efforts, and despite some occasional rumors, there have been no indications that it’s coming back.
Of course, it wouldn’t be the first time Apple has axed a product only to see a successor rise from the ashes. The original HomePod was the best example of that. It was discontinued in early 2021 in a move that was so abrupt that the Apple TV 4K that shipped three months later still relied on features unique to the full-sized smart speaker — and even had a picture of it on the box.
Apple’s explanation at the time was that it wanted to focus its efforts on the HomePod mini. However, two years later, the full-sized HomePod returned in a second-generation version with a more powerful chip and new environmental sensors, but not much else.
Gurman insists we won’t see that happen with the AirPort Router lineup. Unlike the HomePod, which still fits into Apple’s lineup, routers are an entirely separate product business that’s dead in the water for Apple. However, Gurman offers one interesting tidbit that suggests Apple might use the Proxima chip to do more than just connect the speaker to your Wi-Fi network; it could potentially extend it, as well:
While I personally believe that would be great, let me be clear: Apple is not working on a new AirPort wireless router. There is an important caveat, though. The Proxima chip is so sophisticated that it could theoretically turn a home device like an Apple TV box or HomePod into a wireless access point.
Mark Gurman
Gurman adds that this is by no means guaranteed and that even if Apple adds this capability, it won’t be the main selling point of the HomePod mini.
What About Apple Intelligence?
The chips and RAM typically required to power Apple’s on-device Apple Intelligence features are beyond what Apple is ready to put into a HomePod — especially a $99 HomePod mini. Apple Intelligence requires an A17 Pro and 8 GB of RAM as a minimum.
Instead, Apple’s HomePods rely on Apple Watch chips. The original HomePod packed in an A8 chip, which put it on par with an iPhone 6, but Apple moved to S-series chips with the HomePod mini. When the second-generation HomePod came along, it used the S7 chip from the Apple Watch Series 7.
If Apple follows suit, a “HomePod mini 2” could get the S9 chip from last year’s Apple Watch. That would align with the 2020 model, which had an S5 chip from the 2019 Apple Watch Series 5. The S9 has a neural engine that’s powerful enough to handle on-device Siri requests, which could open the door to some Apple Intelligence capabilities, such as calling up ChatGPT or even leveraging Apple’s Private Cloud Compute infrastructure to offload AI requests.
Considering how strongly Apple is pushing Apple Intelligence, it seems likely to find some way to add AI features to the HomePod mini 2. As a voice-activated device, it also doesn’t need nearly the level of sophistication that an iPhone or iPad does — it doesn’t need to power Writing Tools or Image Playground features — so the primary goal of AI for the HomePod mini would be to make Siri smarter and more conversational.
Still, we’ve heard nothing from the usual sources on what the HomePod mini 2 will bring. It’s possible it could be little more than a minor product refresh to improve the specs, much like the second-generation HomePod was to the original smart speaker. Apple is expected to release the new HomePod mini sometime next year, but it’s unclear when that will happen.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]
