Another Apple launch event, another notable absentee. Apple launched its more affordably priced iPhone 16e, complete with the benefits of the Californian giant’s latest-generation A18 chip, 6-core CPU and C1, Apple’s first cellular modem designed in-house, but that was just about it. Not that iPhone fans were complaining, that’s a lot of new hardware packed into a phone that’s set to retail at around £599 / $599.
What we audiophiles were all quietly waiting for, though, was the launch of a new HomePod. More specifically, we’d been teased the possibility of a new HomePod 3 with a screen, with tech insiders and journalists alike having posited that a new smart speaker would arrive with a 7-inch LCD display since at least 2023. More recent rumours from late last year also seemed to confirm that a screen-sporting HomePod would land at some point during 2025, so it was reasonable to think that Apple’s latest February 2025 event would include a new model. Sadly, it wasn’t to be.
