Apple's Finally Updating the HomePod Mini Because Amazon Is Eating Their Lunch

Apple's about to refresh the HomePod mini and Apple TV 4K because their current smart home strategy is getting crushed by Amazon and Google. The HomePod mini sounds great but costs twice as much as an Echo Dot that does 90% of the same shit.

Ming-Chi Kuo reports the new HomePod mini might have better bass response, which is nice, but won't fix the real problem: most people just want to play Spotify and set timers, not pay Apple's premium for fancy audio processing that sounds the same as a $30 speaker.

The new HomePod mini gets Wi-Fi 6E (because marketing needs bullet points), better Siri (still won't understand you), and Thread support for the 12 HomeKit devices that actually work. Same $99 price that makes people buy Amazon instead.

I spent 3 hours trying to get a fucking Philips Hue bridge to connect through HomeKit, only to discover it needed a firmware update that required downloading a separate app, creating another account, and waiting 45 minutes for the update to complete. HomeKit gave me the helpful error "Accessory Not Responding" without mentioning that my router's multicast filtering was blocking everything. Meanwhile, my neighbor set up his Echo Dot in 90 seconds and it just worked. Siri's reliability issues with smart home control are well-documented, and Apple's ending support for old HomeKit architecture in fall 2025 isn't helping user confidence.

Apple's getting destroyed by Amazon and Google in smart speakers. That's not "competitive positioning" - that's getting your ass kicked by companies that price their speakers as loss leaders because they make money elsewhere. The smart speaker market is exploding, but Apple's premium pricing strategy keeps them locked out of mass adoption.

Apple TV Gets Gaming Delusions

The Apple TV 4K refresh is getting an A17 Pro chip, which Mark Gurman says will enable "console-quality gaming." This is the same bullshit Apple's been pushing since the original Apple TV - that people want to play serious games with a tiny remote on their couch.

The A17 Pro chip is overpowered for Netflix and underpowered for real gaming. Better HDR won't help when streaming services compress the hell out of everything anyway. The new remote will be different enough to piss off existing users, and HomeKit hub functionality is still a nightmare to set up.

I tried playing Dead Cells on Apple TV with that garbage Siri Remote. After 20 minutes of trying to do precise platforming with a touch surface the size of a Chiclet - and dying constantly because the input lag made timing impossible - I gave up and went back to my Nintendo Switch. The Siri Remote's touch surface has about as much precision as finger painting - good luck hitting a jump button in a platformer. The Apple Arcade library is full of mobile ports that nobody wants to play on their TV anyway. Gaming on Apple TV has been Apple's white whale for years, but controller support remains inconsistent across games.

The smart home market is massive, which sounds impressive until you realize Apple's share is microscopic because they insist on charging luxury prices for basic functionality.

October/November launch means these will be expensive stocking stuffers for people already deep in the Apple ecosystem.

Apple thinks they can win smart home with privacy marketing and ecosystem lock-in, but consumers keep buying Amazon devices because they're cheap and actually work.

The Privacy Marketing Isn't Working

Apple's betting that people care enough about privacy to pay double for smart speakers. The problem? Most people are already sharing everything with Facebook and Google anyway, so paying extra to keep Siri conversations private feels like closing the barn door after the horse has left.

HomeKit Secure Video sounds great until you try to buy compatible cameras and realize there are maybe 20 options compared to hundreds for Ring and Nest. Local processing is nice in theory, but useless if the ecosystem has no accessories.

Gaming on Apple TV Is Still a Joke

Apple Arcade might be growing, but that's because it comes free with other Apple services. Nobody's canceling their PlayStation to play mobile games with an Apple TV remote.

The "Nintendo Switch performance" claim is hilarious - the Switch runs games designed for its hardware. Apple TV runs iPhone games upscaled to your 65-inch TV, which looks exactly as terrible as you'd expect.

Real gaming problems Apple won't fix:

• Controllers cost $70 and most people won't buy them
• No major game exclusives worth caring about
• Input lag makes competitive gaming impossible
• Game library is 90% mobile ports and indie titles

The Ecosystem Trap

Apple customers end up buying multiple devices because nothing else works with their iPhone - it's expensive lock-in disguised as ecosystem. That extra spending per household isn't "opportunity" - it's what happens when you can't use anything else. Apple users spend way more per year than Android users because they're trapped.

Amazon sells Echo Dots at $49 because they make money when you order stuff through them. Google prices Nest devices low because they harvest your data. Apple charges $99 because... they can, and people will pay it to keep their bubble intact.

The Real Strategy

Apple's not trying to win smart home - they're milking existing customers who are already trapped in the ecosystem. The privacy angle is marketing bullshit to justify premium pricing for commodity hardware that costs $15 to manufacture.

This October refresh will sell to the same people who buy every Apple product, while normal consumers continue choosing Echo devices that cost half as much and work with everything.