The rumor mill has once again lurched into action regarding an upcoming Apple HomePod with full touchscreen. In this new leak (shared by X user @Kosutami_Ito), an alleged part image appears to show a new, bigger HomePod display top plate – yes, where the current waveform swirling orb lives.
There's no point of reference to estimate the circular screen's actual size, but the tipster says it shows a "glossy" HomePod with display, codenamed B720.
New picture of the (might be upcoming one) HomePod with display. Glossy, sick, just imagine.#Apple #appleinternal (B720) pic.twitter.com/xMTULXpGw0April 18, 2024
This isn't the first we've heard of an Apple smart display-enhanced HomePod, mind you. Back in October 2023, a leak posted by a KotsutamiSan (an X handle that seems to be no more, although it sounds remarkably similar to Kotsutami_Ito, author of the latest leak) also referenced a B720 HomePod with a bigger touchscreen which might be capable of showing images – of album covers, say.
Just over a year ago in March 2023, the respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted a HomePod with a display would land at some point in 2024.
And the story goes back even further, to February 2022, when Siri allegedly started slipping up by mentioning a HomePod display of some kind – and let's not forget, that was long before the HomePod 2 arrived, in January 2023.
'Siri, we need to talk'
Look, I don't think there's anything wrong with Apple's smart speakers design-wise – I loved the original HomePod's dimensions and configuration. More than that though, I loved the way it sounded. And I loved the swirling, almost haunted vibes from the distinctive top-plate; no notes there.
It's no secret that I also loved the Apple HomePod Mini; a classy but inexpensive (for Apple) update that sounded far bigger than it had any business being, with a driver that sonically still leaves Amazon's Echo Dot (5th Gen) for dust.
The thing is, it's also no secret that Apple's voice assistant (originally integrated into the iPhone 4S way back in October 2011, after starting out as an app for iOS in February 2010) is lagging behind. TechRadar's own senior news editor, Mark Wilson, recently lamented "Siri is truly terrible", and despite his optimism about its rumored iOS 18 reboot (due September 2024), he's not alone in voicing this opinion.
Siri was largely left behind in Apple's most recent WWDC 2023 event, with the once-pioneering vocal subordinate's big 'update' being… a shortening of the wake-up phrase from ‘Hey Siri’ to ‘Siri’. Wow. It's easy to think that Apple simply no longer cares about Siri.
The problem as I see it has nothing to do with how impressive a bigger, more fully-featured screen on an Apple speaker might be. The issue is that an Apple HomePod with the current version of Siri at its core can't compete with the best smart speakers in the business in 2024. Since April 2023, we've bemoaned the fact that Siri is being left behind – and Apple knows it.
But wait! All is not lost; at the start of the month, Apple researchers revealed an AI breakthrough that could make Siri much smarter. The new paper (entitled 'ReALM: Reference Resolution As Language Modeling') contains intel from Apple on how the Cupertino giant’s own AI system will aim to consider both what's on your device’s screen and the tasks you're performing simultaneously (both in the foreground and the background) as stimuli to respond to your queries.
If your HomePod can understand the context and the direct request, Apple thinks that'll give its AI an edge. Might this stop it from playing the top 25 hits on Apple Music when I say, "Siri, play me a good song" (and instead consider the genres of music I actually like)? Or, might it mean that if I say "Siri, play the hits" it would play the actual hits, rather than the Backstreet Boys 2001 album that also happens to be called The Hits? We live in hope…
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