The Apple HomePod leak suggests a fully touchscreen model is on the way, but all I want is next-gen Siri
The rumor mill has once again sprung into action regarding an upcoming fully touchscreen Apple HomePod. In this new leak (shared by X-user @Kosutami_Ito), an image of an alleged component appears to show a new, larger top plate of the HomePod screen – yes, where the current waveform swirling sphere lives.
There’s no reference point to estimate the actual size of the round screen, but the tipster says it shows a “glossy” HomePod with display, codenamed B720.
New photo of the (possibly upcoming) HomePod with display. Shiny, sick, imagine that.#Apple #appleinternal (B720) pic.twitter.com/xMTULXpGw0April 18, 2024
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of an Apple Smart Display-enhanced HomePod, mind you. In October 2023, a leak posted by a KotsutamiSan (an show his images – of album covers, for example.
Just over a year ago, in March 2023, respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted that a HomePod with a display would arrive sometime in 2024.
And the story goes back even further, to February 2022, when Siri reportedly started making a mistake by mentioning some HomePod screen – 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 liked the size and configuration of the original HomePod. But more than that, I loved the way it sounded. And I loved the swirling, almost ghostly atmosphere of the signature top plate; no notes there.
It’s no secret that I also loved the Apple HomePod Mini; a stylish but cheap (for Apple) update that sounded much bigger than ever before, with a driver that sonically still leaves Amazon’s Echo Dot (5th generation) in the dust.
The thing is, it’s also no secret that Apple’s voice assistant (originally integrated into the iPhone 4S in October 2011, after starting as an app for iOS in February 2010) is lagging behind. Ny Breaking’s own senior news editor, Mark Wilson, recently lamented “Siri is absolutely terrible,” and despite his optimism about the rumored iOS 18 reboot (expected in September 2024), he’s not alone in expressing this opinion.
Siri was largely left behind at Apple’s most recent WWDC 2023 event, with the big ‘update’ to the once groundbreaking vocal sub… 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 larger, fuller screen on an Apple speaker could be. The problem is that an Apple HomePod with the current version of Siri at its core won’t be able to compete with the best smart speakers in the industry in 2024. Since April 2023, we’ve lamented the fact that Siri is lagging behind – and Apple knows it.
But wait! All is not lost; Early this month, Apple researchers unveiled an AI breakthrough that could make Siri much smarter. The new paper (titled ‘ReALM: Reference Resolution As Language Modeling’) contains information from Apple about how the Cupertino giant’s own AI system will try to take into account what’s on your device’s screen And the tasks you perform simultaneously (both in the foreground and background) as stimuli to respond to your questions.
If your HomePod can understand the context and direct request, Apple thinks this will give its AI an edge. Could this stop the top 25 hits on Apple Music from playing when I say “Siri, play me a good song” (and instead take into account the music genres I really like)? Or could it mean that when I say “Siri, play the hits” it plays the actual hits, instead of the 2001 Backstreet Boys album also called “Siri, play the hits”? The hits? We live in hope…