Supply chain whispers claim that it would go for around half the current price of the HomePod. Will it make a dent and appeal to a younger core audience?
This week saw a market analysis report shed little optimism about Apple’s position in the smart speaker market. Investors hope to see 3 million sales this year at best while Amazon and Google are on either side of 3 million this quarter. At more than twice the price of its competitors’ standard products, the HomePod was underachievement — not necessarily on the “speaker” part, but of being “smart.”
So, what’s Apple to do?
The answer may be in supply chain rumors and with MediaTek. The semiconductors company is said to have been jockeying for parts orders from Apple since last year on a new smart speaker to be associated with its music-focused Beats brand. Instead of $349, this HomePod variant would go in the neighborhood of half that price. The chipmaker also had vied for contracts for modem orders, CDMA intellectual property, wireless charging and other components.
Sina Tech reports that Chinese tech conglomerate Alibaba uses MediaTek solutions to power its Lynx X1 speaker.
