William Gallagher
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says he now expects that Apple will follow the new HomePod with a refresh of most of its audio devices, but not until the second half of 2024.
While Apple's release of the revised HomePod — available from February 3, 2023 — was mostly a surprise, there have continually been rumors about other devices like a HomePod mini 2.
Now Kuo says that he expects there will be a HomePod mini 2, but not for more than a year.
(1/2)
— (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) February 3, 2023
I predict Apple's next important acoustic product refresh time is will be in 2H24-1H25. The following new products will likely start mass production in 2H24 at the earliest.
1. HomePod mini 2.
2. AirPods Max 2.
3. AirPods low-cost version.
Kuo is careful to say that this is his prediction. It will be an informed one, but often he says that his information is directly from his surveys of the supply chain, and he doesn't make that commitment here.
If he's correct, that will mean that the AirPods Max refresh comes at least three years, possibly four, since their December 2020 release. In 2022, AppleInsider noted that the unchanged AirPods Max still hold up, but they are one of the decreasing number of Apple products that haven't switched to USB-C charging.
Similarly, the HomePod mini was released in November 2020. It's seen price fluctuations, and the introduction of different colors, but otherwise there's been no other change since then.
As for a lower-cost version of the AirPods, that has been rumored since the devices first launched. However, most recently, other analysts have proposed that Apple will produce a "Lite" version in order to compete with cheaper wireless earbuds.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
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11 Comments
My educated guess
Low cost AirPods:$80-100(AirPods 2)
AirPods Max(H2 chip upgrade)
HomePod Mini 2(wireless upgrade & chip upgrade)
I’ve got four Minis and won’t likely upgrade as long as they work well but I’m in the market for AirPods Max. This is disappointing news, but I guess they had to make compromises because of all the supply chain issues.🥺
This is the myopic danger of placing all of one’s eggs in a singular China supply & demand basket. Globalization and off-shoring were killed off by the recent pandemic and world strife, such anomalies shall continue! Diversify your supply and production chain, bring manufacturing back to the Americas.
I realize there is a relationship between weight of speakers (or headphones) and audio quality. But as much as I wanted to like AirPods Max, they were just too heavy for me to wear comfortably (compared to Sony WH-1000), and may be the only Apple product I’ve ever returned. I would be happy if next Max generation could exceed audio quality at a lighter weight. Also, original HomePod stereo pair is still working great for me — I’m having trouble understanding how the new one’s audio quality is improved (computationally?) with one less tweeter and mic (internal components really higher quality?). I look forward to sampling the new HomePod, but holding off on “upgrading.”