Apple has finished building new versions of the Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini. The hardware is done.
Employees at Apple’s Cupertino campus are apparently walking around with both devices right now, and yet, you still can’t buy either one.
Apple is deliberately sitting on finished products because a smarter version of Siri isn’t ready to ship with them yet.
According to recent reports, both devices have been completed for months, but Apple won’t release them until the upgraded Siri experience arrives with iOS 27 this fall.
That tells you something interesting about where Apple thinks Siri needs to go. The whole point of these new devices, at least from Apple’s perspective, seems to be the AI layer sitting on top rather than the physical hardware underneath.
The current HomePod mini runs on the S5 chip, which first appeared in the Apple Watch Series 5 back in 2019. The Apple TV 4K, released in late 2022, uses the A15 Bionic. Both chips predate Apple Intelligence entirely.
The new HomePod mini is expected to get at least an S9 processor, while the Apple TV is rumored to land the A17 Pro, which is the oldest chip Apple supports for its AI features.
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Both devices are also expected to include Apple’s N1 chip, which handles Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread connectivity.
Beyond that, expectations should be kept low. No dramatic redesigns, no headline new features outside of the chip swap and Siri support.
There is one detail that nobody saw coming. The Siri Remote, which has barely changed since Apple overhauled it in 2021, may get a refresh alongside the new Apple TV.
This was flagged without specifics, stopping short of promising any visible changes to the accessory. Even so, the remote getting any attention at all feels unexpected given how little Apple has touched it.
iOS 27 is expected to be announced at WWDC on June 8 and released publicly around September. The new Apple TV and HomePod mini are tied to that timeline, so a fall release window looks realistic.
Apple is reportedly holding other home devices to the same schedule, including a refreshed full-sized HomePod and a brand new smart home hub, all waiting on the same Siri upgrade to cross the finish line.
