Apple TV 4K and HomePod Mini Have Been Ready for Months, and They’re Just Waiting for the New Siri
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that next-generation Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini hardware have been finished "for months" and are already in active daily use by employees at Apple Park.
New models of the Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini are “nearly ready to go,” according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
He says both devices have been finished for months, but Apple is delaying their launch until its more personalised Siri, expected in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27, is ready. Apple is expected to unveil it at WWDC 2026 on June 8 before a public release in September.
The chips are done, the enclosures are done, and the devices are already sitting on desks in Cupertino. Apple is simply unwilling to launch products built around the new Siri before the assistant itself is ready.
What the New Apple TV 4K Will Actually Bring
The current Apple TV 4K has an A15 Bionic chip from the iPhone 13 series, while the HomePod mini uses the S5 chip from the Apple Watch Series 5, both significantly dated by 2026 standards.
The incoming Apple TV 4K moves to the A17 Pro, the same chip introduced in the iPhone 15 Pro Max in 2023, and the oldest generation capable of running Apple Intelligence on-device.
The main upgrade will be a newer processor to replace the nearly five-year-old A15 chip currently in use, with a possibility that the Siri Remote could receive a minor internal refresh, though the overall design is expected to stay the same.
Smart Home Networking and Apple Intelligence Integration
The addition of Apple’s N1 chip brings Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread support, making networking a major upgrade. Thread powers Matter smart home connectivity, while Wi-Fi 7 provides the bandwidth needed for 4K Dolby Vision HDR and future 8K streaming.
As 9to5Mac confirmed, the device is designed to handle local Siri queries instead of sending every request to the cloud, enabled by the move from the A15 to the A17 Pro’s Neural Engine.
The new Siri is expected to handle multi-step requests, pull information from apps, and support more natural conversations, turning the Apple TV from a streaming box with an assistant into a conversational smart home hub.
The upgrade also marks the first time the living room receives the same Apple Intelligence treatment as the iPhone.
HomePod Mini, the Siri Remote, and When to Expect Both
Apple CEO Tim Cook reaffirmed during the company’s Q2 2026 earnings call that a more personalised Siri, reportedly with an auto-chat delete feature, remains on track to launch this year.
The HomePod mini is expected to move from the S5 chip to an S9 or newer chip, providing the processing headroom Apple Intelligence requires through cloud-assisted architecture.
Introduced with Apple Watch Series 9 in 2023, the S9 is a mature chip with years of production refinement behind it.
As AppleInsider confirmed, Siri is the main reason for the delay, as the current S5 chip cannot support the assistant’s cloud-driven architecture, making a chip upgrade essential.
Gurman also said the Apple TV’s Siri Remote could receive a refresh, though he provided no details and did not guarantee any external design changes. Any updates are expected to be internal, potentially including a UWB chip for Find My precision locating.
Both products are expected to launch by September 2026 alongside iOS 27 and macOS 27, which will deliver the Siri features they are designed to support.
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