New HomePod coming soon? What Apple Intelligence means for the smart speaker’s future

The biggest star of WWDC this year was undoubtedly Apple Intelligence. Apple spent nearly half its presentation explaining the philosophy behind its own spin on AI, the features it would make possible, and the bright future ahead thanks to AI’s capabilities.

The Apple Intelligence story centered around three key products: the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Which has many wondering: what about Vision Pro? Apple Watch? HomePod?

I’m not too concerned about the Vision Pro and Apple Watch’s exclusions, as I suspect Apple has AI stories in the works there. But what about HomePod? Will the HomePod gain support for the new Siri? Might there be a new model in development?

Will current HomePods support Apple Intelligence?

Apple currently sells two different HomePod models: the HomePod (2nd generation) and the HomePod mini.

In comparing the two products, they both contain chips that seem unlikely to support Apple Intelligence—meaning, no new and improved Siri, and likely no ChatGPT integration.

For reference, Apple has said that its new AI features require:

• an A17 Pro chip or later (currently exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max)
• or an M1 chip or later for Macs and iPads

The HomePod currently features an S7 chip and the HomePod mini an S5. These are Apple Watch-class chips.

Even if the HomePod lineup boasted the latest S9 chip found in the Apple Watch Series 9, it would still be unlikely to pack enough power for Apple Intelligence.

It’s uncertain whether Apple could enable certain Siri-related AI features on less powerful chips, like those found in the HomePods, but there’s perhaps a more likely solution:

There are new, more powerful HomePods in the works.

Expected features for new HomePod hardware

Although I wouldn’t expect Apple to stick an M4 in the next generation of HomePod, it’s not out of the question to expect something like an M1 or A17 Pro.

With a more powerful chip, new HomePod hardware could gain full compatibility with Siri’s newfound capabilities on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, enabling features like:

• Richer language understanding, so you can speak more naturally rather than following a specific script when making requests
• Context awareness, so you can refer to specific messages, email, etc. and Siri can perform actions that are fully aware of the contents of those communications
• Complex multi-step requests, so you can knock out multiple actions in a single command
• ChatGPT support for requests that could be better answered by OpenAI’s service

All of these Apple Intelligence features could pair nicely with the rumored addition of a built-in touch display on the HomePod.

When will a HomePod AI announcement be made?

At the moment, Apple clearly has nothing to announce regarding the future of Apple Intelligence on the HomePod. But come this fall, if the new and improved Siri proves a hit on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, the HomePod is going to instantly be seen as outdated.

For now, the silence about the HomePod is understandable. Let the focus be on Apple’s most popular platforms. But before too long, the absence of an AI story on Apple’s other devices will have to be remedied.

Apple’s fall is always packed with new hardware, and we’re already expecting a new iPhone 16, Watch Series 10, new AirPods, new Macs and iPads, and more.

Is there room for HomePods? It seems doubtful, but I sure hope there is.