Apple is likely to leave two of its long-lost audio products unchanged this year. This is the assumption of a well-known analyst who has good connections in the iPhone manufacturer’s supply chain. The products are the HomePod mini (released in fall 2020) and the AirPods Max (released in December 2020).
Four years on the market – unchanged
Both model series should therefore receive new variants in 2024 at the earliest – and even supposedly only in the second half of the year. That would leave HomePod mini and AirPods Max on the market unchanged for four years. While the HomePod mini calls for a low entry-level price for an Apple audio product of less than 100 euros, the AirPods Max cost 630 euros from the manufacturer and around 600 in retail.
The information comes from Ming-Chi Kuo from the money house TF International Securities from Taiwan. He believes that the deployment of the new equipment “at the earliest” 2024 begins. AirPods Max 2 and HomePod mini 2 could even appear later in the first half of 2025. Apple is planning a low-cost version of the regular AirPods bud at the same time, Kuo said.
What might be new
What could be new about the AirPods Max 2 remains unclear. Among other things, a switch to USB-C instead of Lightning, improved noise suppression (Active Noise Cancellation, ANC) and a U1 ultra-wideband chip to find the hardware faster via “Where is?” are expected. Major design changes of the over-ears, which do not look entirely uncontroversial, should not be expected. It remains unclear why Apple needs so long for a successor model.
With the HomePod mini2, the changes should also be limited. Recently it was even said that Apple was no longer actively developing the small Siri speaker. Kuo now says that there is a second version. However, he does not provide any information on the possible innovations. It is possible that Apple will act similarly to the HomePod 2 and only improve the audio quality and make other internal improvements such as a newer SoC / SiP.
(bsc)
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