Apple once considered launching a battery-powered HomePod, according to a report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The company is said to have got as far as a prototype device before scrapping the idea.
In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Gurman claims the battery-powered smart speaker was the subject of 'internal discussions' some years ago. Cue the oohs and ahhs.
The timing of this revelation is certainly curious. The news comes just one week after it emerged that Apple had discontinued the Beats Pill+, the last remaining Bluetooth speaker from the tech giant's Beats subsidiary.
"I would be surprised if [a battery-powered speaker] ever launches under the Apple brand," says Gurman. "If Apple does get back into the battery-powered speaker game, I’d guess it returns under the Beats brand."
Could a new Beats smart speaker be on the way? Perhaps Beats is planning a 21st century ghetto blaster to rival the new Monster Blaster 3.0 Boombox? Given that Beats' latest headphones feature Apple's H1 chip, there's no reason why a new Beats smart speaker couldn't have Apple Airplay 2 and built-in Siri voice controls.
Speculation aside, it seems unlikely that Apple will resurrect the idea of a battery-powered HomePod anytime soon, although we've got our fingers crossed that a HomePod 2 will break cover this year. It's tipped for hi-res support and a touch-sensitive display.
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