All items tagged with smart speakers and HomePod (10)

The Return of the Apple HomePod, Now with UWB, Matter, Bluetooth 5 and... Spatial Audio

January 18, 2023 by Joao Martins

The Return of the Apple HomePod, Now with UWB, Matter, Bluetooth 5 and... Spatial Audio

Following a surprise announcement of new M2 silicon for its MacBook Pro and Mac mini models, Apple surprised us even more with the announcement of the return of the infamous HomePod. Now packed full of innovations, more sensors, improved Siri features like the HomePod mini, and Matter-compatible smart home capabilities, the new HomePod returns with the same form factor, but now with updated Bluetooth 5 technology, UWB, Airplay 2, and the same smart, adaptive listening experience.

The First Smart Speaker from Apple: A Strong Design and How It Is Perceived

October 15, 2020 by Joao Martins

The First Smart Speaker from Apple: A Strong Design and How It Is Perceived

For this edition of The Audio Voice, I intended to focus a bit more on the latest developments in the fascinating world of sensors and how it impacts product development and design in all applications areas, particularly in consumer electronics, automotive, and health applications. After writing previously about Apple - the sensors on the Apple Watch and the surprising firmware updates for the AirPod Pro earbuds - I really didn't want to go back to Apple. But as always, Apple has a way of surprising us exactly when we least expected, and the company made another important audio announcement.

Apple Unveils HomePod mini Smart Speaker to Expand Its Smart Home Ecosystem

October 13, 2020 by audioXpress Staff

Apple Unveils HomePod mini Smart Speaker to Expand Its Smart Home Ecosystem

Opening what was broadly expected to be an event focused on the iPhone 12 unveiling, Apple introduced the new HomePod mini. Unlike the original HomePod, primarily focused on the music listening experience, the HomePod mini is touted as an actual Smart Speaker. In fact, betting on leading on four fronts: to combine a great music listening experience, an intelligent assistant, and smart home capabilities, with built-in privacy and security, in a beautiful compact design. Also much more affordable, at just $99.

Frontier Introduces Multi-Ecosystem Voice Control to Smart Speakers

August 24, 2018 by audioXpress Staff

Frontier Introduces Multi-Ecosystem Voice Control to Smart Speakers

Frontier Smart Technologies, a pioneer in development platforms for wireless audio, digital radio and voice recognition solutions, announced a significant enhancement to its Minuet Smart Audio platform, which will be the first in the world to allow smart speakers, soundbars and AVRs to be simultaneously controlled by voice-enabled devices from Google, Amazon and Apple, helping manufacturers to differentiate, and not have to compete head on with 1st party devices.

New Smart Audio Report Spring 2018 from NPR and Edison Research Now Available

July 23, 2018 by audioXpress Staff

New Smart Audio Report Spring 2018 from NPR and Edison Research Now Available

With more than 43 million smart speaker owners in the U.S., adoption is going mainstream, according to the latest research from The Smart Audio Report, Spring 2018, a recurring study from NPR and Edison Research. The new data from the research confirms that new smart speaker owners are emerging as a distinct audience in terms of user profile, behavior and media habits, while the first movers in the space remain highly engaged with their devices.

Worldwide Home Audio Market Research Shows Growth of 25%

June 14, 2018 by audioXpress Staff

Worldwide Home Audio Market Research Shows Growth of 25%

Futuresource Consulting recently updated its research on the worldwide home audio market. On its latest quarterly report on "Worldwide Home Audio - A Landscape of Stark Contrasts and Opportunities: Pricing, Shipments, Regions and Brands," Futuresource reveals that 'home audio' shipments, including wireless speakers, soundbars and hi-fi systems, grew by 25%, accumulating a total of 27 million units during January to March 2018.

Apple Launches iOS 11.4 with AirPlay 2 to Enable HomePod Stereo Pairs and Multi-Room Audio

May 30, 2018 by audioXpress Staff

Apple Launches iOS 11.4 with AirPlay 2 to Enable HomePod Stereo Pairs and Multi-Room Audio

Apple has confirmed that its latest mobile operating system iOS 11.4 is now available introducing the much anticipated AirPlay 2 updated technology, which enables Apple's own smart speaker to be configured as stereo pairs and to work in multi-room mode. AirPlay 2 will be also supported by several other audio manufacturers. Apple also confirmed that HomePod will be available in Canada, France and Germany, starting June 18.

Voice Application Opportunities for the Audio Industry

July 20, 2017 by Joao Martins

Voice Application Opportunities for the Audio Industry

In previous editorials, I have highlighted the important role of smart speakers in promoting the user case for voice personal assistants (VPAs) and voice recognition applications - given the ideal combination of far-field microphone arrays with a complete audio ecosystem that encompasses digital signal processing, acoustic echo cancelation, noise cancellation, and many other technologies. This opens significant opportunities for the audio industry, given we understand the challenges.

Smart Speakers Capture 30% of Audio Market, VPAs Poised to Create New ‘Wild Frontier’

July 12, 2017 by audioXpress Staff

Smart Speakers Capture 30% of Audio Market, VPAs Poised to Create New ‘Wild Frontier’

Market research and consulting company, Futuresource Consulting recently released a new report in the consumer electronics CE space covering the emerging voice personal assistants (VPAs) category and smart speakers. The report highlights that we are the beginning of a wider market transformation, with voice personal assistants (VPAs) at the heart of a new CE land grab.

All Apple WWDC 2017 Audio Announcements

June 8, 2017 by Joao Martins

All Apple WWDC 2017 Audio Announcements

The audio industry was once again shaken to its foundations by Apple's announcements at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2017. The product updates and sneak peeks made at this Apple Special Event, on June 5, 2017, were extremely rich in surprising technology revelations, even though its implications might not become clear until a few weeks or months later. After all, the WWDC conference - a developer's conference - is traditionally where Apple builds the foundations for what will be its underlying short-term/long-term strategies, serving mainly to motivate developers and strategic partners.