Welcome to our weekend Apple Breakfast tower , which includes all of the Apple news show you missed this week in a handy bite - sized roundup . We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it travel large with a dawn cupful of coffee or tea , but it ’s cool if you want to give it a read during lunch or dinner hours too .
Home work
This workweek I ’ve been wreak on the Macworld followup of Apple ’s new HomePod and spoiler alert : It ’s an attractive and well - made equipment with smashing sound . But it ’s also quite puzzling to evaluate . The doubtfulness I keep coming back to is this : Who is this for ?
magnificently and pretty mysteriously , Apple discontinued the original HomePod in 2021 a few month after releasing the $ 99 HomePod mini . At the time , most pundits assumed this was an admission that the full - size fashion model simply did n’t sell : It was on the dearly-won side , after all , and did n’t dally nicely with Android phones , or cyclosis services other than Apple Music . It also had an annoying non - detachable power electric cord and a account tendency to allow whitened circular marks on people ’s piece of furniture . The HomePod miniskirt did n’t solve all of those problems , but it ’s much comfortable to forgive flaws when you ’re pay $ 99 rather than $ 299 .
If sale numberswerethe problem , it ’s a little perplexing that Apple has select to set in motion another full - size HomePod that looks almost indistinguishable to the archetype . There are some changes , of class , and if you bought the first HomePod and deliver it in disgust , it ’s possible that your annoyances have been call : the tycoon cord is now detachable , while the al-Qaida ( like that of the HomePod miniskirt ) is a flat rotary rather than a ring , and far less prone to leave mark . But broader issues still stay .
Despite a more or less low-spirited price than the first HomePod had at launching , this remain an expensive smart speaker that is n’t terribly smart ( thanks to Siri ’s continuing imperfectness ) and does n’t dally nicely with most production and servicing from outside Apple ’s ecosystem . And it ’s toilsome to see this transfer the nous of those who were n’t impressed by the original model .
Those like me , meanwhile – masses who owned the first HomePod and rather liked it for all its fault – are unconvincing to be pushed into an rise . The new manakin is better in some ways , with a larger screen and more balanced audio output , but not by enough to justify a replacement . And it ca n’t be set up as a stereo dyad with its 2018 vis-a-vis . The upgrade way of life simply is n’t very compelling .
There are possibilities we may not have considered . It ’s possible , for example , that the original HomePod sold mulct and was discontinued for other cause ; problems with manufacture during the pandemic , perhaps . It ’s also possible that the new HomePod is part of a wider strategy to tackle the smart house , and is n’t intended or await to make a lot of money in its own right . Maybe Apple think the HomePod miniskirt is more appealing when correct alongside a prestige product at a mellow price point , or just thinks it ’s airheaded to sell a mini product when there is n’t something else that ’s bigger .
Whatever the reasoning — and Apple more often than not knows what it ’s doing — I’m not sure I follow it . But at the same time , I do like the HomePod , which may give an sixth sense into how difficult this reassessment has been to write . If you ’d like to take it in full , tune into Macworld next calendar week .
Foundry
Apple at the Super Bowl : Huge plug , braggart flops , and thegreatest ad of all time .
Apple’swar against leakersis really a conflict against thepeople that count most .
The HomePod 2 ticktack the original HomePodin blind tests … except whenheavy bassis a primal factor .
ChatGPT , Midjourney , and more : Is Apple lettinganother AI opportunity slip away ?
Apple has admitted that Mac gaming‘will take some time,’while teasing the possibility ofiPhone - like one-year updatesfor the Mac .
What if … Apple ’s next self-aggrandising thingnever comes ? We take the air throughfour scenariosthat could write Apple ’s day of reckoning .
Oh high-priced . Samsung ’s S23 bloatwaretakes up more space than two entiremacOS Ventura installs .
Talking of which , theGalaxy S23 Ultrastillstruggles to quiver the iPhone — from 2020 .
Apple ’s cultureis what micturate the Mac abad gaming platform .
The rumor mill
TheiPhone 15 Ultramight be Apple’sbiggest and priciest iPhone ever .
Apple is stillworking on a charge featurethat should have been in theiPhone 14 Pro .
Apple may let theMac Studio languishfor years somore people buy the Mac Pro .
We look atApple ’s plans for February . Will there bemore surprisesbefore the big March consequence ?
Podcast of the week
The Mac has a long and celebrated account , but telecasting game play a very small role . In this episode of the Macworld Podcast , we hash out thestate of Mac gaming .
you’re able to captivate every episode of the Macworld Podcast onSpotify , Soundcloud , thePodcasts app , orour own web site .
Software updates, bugs & problems
iOS 16.3appears to beforcing some usersto protect their accounts with 2FA .
The pulledHome revampis set toreturn in iOS 16.4 .
And with that , we ’re done for this week . If you ’d wish to get regular roundup , ratify up forour newssheet . you may also follow uson Twitteroron Facebookfor discussion of breaking Apple news stories . See you next Saturday , enjoy the relief of your weekend , and stay Appley .
