Apple has never hit a home run in the smart speaker market. As recently as February 2018, the company’s HomePod was selling for $349. The price was eventually reduced to $299, but it wasn’t enough for Apple to gain traction. In November 2020, Apple launched the HomePod mini for $99 in order to compete with Amazon and Google’s smaller and cheaper devices.
A new HomePod isn’t expected to look very different from the current model, according to Ming-Chi Kuo. Apple is expected to try again with the HomePod, according to top industry analysts. For a new HomePod, Ming-Chi Kuo doesn’t expect Apple to make major cosmetic tweaks. It’s also possible that Apple will release a new HomePod small. In any case, Kuo predicts that hardware design would remain mostly unchanged. “There may not be much innovation in hardware design,” added the analyst. While smart speakers are “unquestionably one of the important aspects” of the home environment, Kuo feels Apple has yet to figure out a method to succeed in this market.
The HomePod is gone, but it hasn’t gone away. Ming-Chi Kuo, a respected analyst, tweeted that Apple will unveil a new version of the smart speaker in the fourth quarter of this year or the first quarter of next year. Although this model is larger than the HomePod small, Apple is skimping on several capabilities in order to keep the price below $300 for the final product model.
With the HomePod, Apple went over the top in terms of sonic capabilities, which was a mistake. Making a product too high-end, on the other hand, can backfire, particularly in terms of pricing. Apple didn’t realise that the target audience for smart speakers was audiophiles who were willing to pay a lot of money for the best sound quality. According to Kuo, the company won’t make the same mistake again. Because a smart speaker’s digital assistant, Siri, is so critical, Apple also needs to improve Siri.
Unfortunately, Siri currently falls short of the capabilities of both Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa in terms of overall intelligence. With a new and enhanced HomePod, Apple will be able to make a smart speaker that is ideal for the living room and other large areas in the home. HomePod tiny could be used in small places where the massive speaker size of original model is not necessary.