On Apple software updates vs actual hardware
It feels like we’re getting features for products that don’t yet exist
Trite as it is to say it at this point,
Apple’s strength is its ability to mix hardware and software, and offer features that either don’t work as well (or at all) when they’re tried by other companies that don’t have that level of integration. Sometimes, you look at a product differently after a big software update – or maybe even a software update to a totally different product – as suddenly new options are revealed.
But this year, I found myself experiencing a new sensation: watching Apple announce features, and thinking that the product they seem clearly designed for doesn’t actually exist. Yet.
First was the push for spatial audio in more areas during WWDC. It’s coming to Apple TV! It’s already in Apple Music Dolby Atmos tracks! But all stereo tracks will be upgraded with it too! It was an awful lot of fanfare that currently works with exactly two pairs of headphones in the world, and both are rather niche, given that the AirPods Pro are the cheaper option and have an RRP of £250. As the next version of regular AirPods are kind of an open secret at this point, and are said to have spatial audio support, the whole rigamarole would have had a lot more effect if those were actually available to bring this feature at an affordable price. Instead, it just felt awkward, like there was one band member who was too hungover to turn up to the show.
It was even more odd with the second rather large Apple product hole, which actually came during the announcement of the new Apple TV 4K. You see, the Apple TV has a very clever feature, which is to take audio from your TV (and anything connected to it), and send it over AirPlay. That means you can turn your HomePods into home cinema speakers no matter what video source you’re using! (Previously, you could only do this with things you were watching on the Apple TV box.) And with Dolby Atmos advanced audio, no less. Brilliant! With the small wrinkle that Apple had discontinued the HomePod – its only Dolby Atmos speaker product – a couple of weeks before. And HomePod mini isn’t Atmos-capable, or even compatible with the home theatre audio feature (again, yet).
So… who is this feature for? Existing HomePod owners? That’s fine, as long as you have a pair you want to use together. And now that those 150 people are happy (I kid, I kid), who else?
Just like it felt as though there should have been new cheaper AirPods for spatial audio, it seems like there was supposed to be a HomePod 2, or an Apple soundbar (HomeBar?) that this feature pairs with.
Of course, we are living in strange times, so who knows what may have happened behind the scenes. Hopefully something will fill in the blanks for us soon enough.
ABOUT MATT BOLTON
Matt is the editor for Apple and home tech at T3 and has been charting changes at Apple since his student days. He’s sceptical of tech industry hyperbole, but still gets warm and fuzzy on hearing “one more thing”.
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