Daring Fireball's John Gruber shared his first impressions of the new Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini 2 this week, and he concluded that the price increases the devices received are "much more striking" than any of the new features introduced.


Prior to receiving price increases in late June, the previous Apple TV 4K started at $129 in the U.S., while the previous HomePod mini was priced at $99. The new Apple TV and the HomePod mini 2 are priced at $299 and $149, respectively, so both devices are now significantly more expensive than they were just four months ago.

Since the new Apple TV is only available in a single configuration with 128GB of storage and an Ethernet port, it is more fair to compare it to the equivalent previous-generation 128GB model, which was initially $149 and went up to $249 in late June. This means the new model is technically only $50 more expensive, but the reality is that the minimum you can spend on a new Apple TV 4K is now $299, up significantly from $129.

The price increases stack up if you want to use a pair of HomePod mini speakers as the default audio output on an Apple TV 4K. As noted by Gruber, it now costs nearly $600 to buy all of those devices, up from nearly $350 before late June.

"At the old pre-June prices, you could buy a 128 GB Apple TV and a pair of HomePod Minis for $350 ($150 + $100 + $100)," said Gruber. "Four short months later, with today's new models, that combination would cost $600 ($300 + $150 + $150). That price difference is much more striking than any of the new and improved features in the products."

To be clear, Gruber said he still thinks the new Apple TV 4K is "worth it" to him at its current price, and he believes the HomePod mini 2's price is "reasonable." However, he acknowledges that the "general consumer market thought the old prices were too high," and now Apple has made even more price increases on top.
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Apple's HomeView software license agreement refers to the HomeView as a "HomePodDevice" in one section. This is surely a placeholder name from a draft version of the agreement that Apple forgot to replace in the final version, and it reveals that Apple unsurprisingly views the HomeView as a HomePod-like device.

On a related note, Apple's legal website has two other agreements titled "HomePodOS 26" and "HomePodOS 27," even though Apple refers to the platform as simply "HomePod software" in those documents and elsewhere. It may be the closest we get to homeOS.
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As spotted by Vadim Yuryev of the YouTube channel Max Tech, the iPhone Duo has already been resold on eBay for as much as $5,000 after shipping estimates for the device slipped into 2027 on Apple's online store within minutes of pre-orders beginning today.


The listing that is marked as sold is for an iPhone Duo in the Night Sky color with 2TB of storage. Apple sells this configuration for $3,199 in the U.S., so the device has apparently fetched an $1,800 premium on eBay.

A separate eBay listing for a "confirmed pre-order" of an iPhone Duo in Night Sky with 1TB of storage is also marked as sold for $4,400. Apple sells this configuration for $2,599, so this device has also been resold at a $1,800 premium.

Apple's online store in the U.S. showed an estimated shipping date of January 25 for all iPhone Duo configurations when this article was published.
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If you were hoping to surprise someone with an iPhone Duo for Christmas, you might be out of luck, as Apple's online store in the U.S. is already showing an estimated shipping date of January 25 for all configurations following the start of pre-orders today.

It is possible that some Apple Stores will have the iPhone Duo available for walk-in customers on Friday, October 23 launch day, but it seems likely that inventory will be very tight. For customers interested in reserving an Apple Store pickup slot, Apple's online store now says to check back on Saturday, October 24 for this.
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iPhone Duo pre-orders began today in the U.S. and select other countries. If you have yet to place a pre-order, however, wait times at Apple are longer now.


The first customers who pre-ordered right when pre-orders began at 5 a.m. Pacific Time today will have their iPhone Duo delivered on Friday, October 23 launch day. By just 5:30 a.m. Pacific Time though, Apple's online store in the U.S. was already showing a shipping date of January 25 for all iPhone Duo configurations.

• iPhone Duo / Star White / 256GB: January 25


• iPhone Duo / Star White / 512GB: January 25


• iPhone Duo / Star White / 1TB: January 25


• iPhone Duo / Star White / 2TB: January 25


• iPhone Duo / Night Sky / 256GB: January 25


• iPhone Duo / Night Sky / 512GB: January 25


• iPhone Duo / Night Sky / 1TB: January 25


• iPhone Duo / Night Sky / 2TB: January 25

As always, Apple's shipping estimates are based on a combination of supply and demand, and we do not know how much supply was available on day one of pre-orders. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that iPhone Duo supply would be limited, following earlier reports of potential manufacturing challenges resulting in low production yield.

With shipping times now into 2027, the iPhone Duo is no longer available in time for delivery before Christmas through Apple's online store.

It may still be possible to secure an iPhone Duo far earlier than January by visiting an Apple Store on October 23 launch day. However, based on how quickly shipping times slipped, it seems likely that most locations will have extremely tight inventory for walk-in customers. iPhone Duo is also available at resellers like Best Buy.

Apple Store pickup was briefly an option when placing an iPhone Duo pre-order on Apple's online store, but the pickup system has now been disabled, with Apple now informing customers to check back on Saturday, October 24 for this.
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Withings, the maker of smart scales for measuring body weight, has announced that customers who create an account on October 13, 2026 or later must have a Withings+ subscription for automatic syncing of data to third-party apps, including Apple's Health app. In the U.S., Withings+ costs $99.50 per year.

If you created your account on or before October 12, 2026, automatic syncing to third-party apps remains free. Since this change is tied to the account creation date, existing customers who buy a new Withings scale or other device are unaffected.
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On the latest episode of his Power On podcast, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said he heard that Apple has tested both 60Hz and 120Hz ProMotion displays for the next iPad mini. However, he has not yet learned which option Apple has chosen.

Apple is expected to announce the new iPad mini on October 27 or October 28, with rumored features including an OLED display, A20 Pro chip, landscape front camera, redesigned speaker system, and water-resistant design.
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In a recent interview with TIME, Apple CEO John Ternus described some early foldable smartphones as feeling "kind of cheap and crappy." Samsung released its first foldable in 2019, but Apple opted to take its time and has now developed the iPhone Duo with a premium design and a barely-noticeable display crease.

The interview touches on how Ternus gave Apple's design team "the confidence to really push the boundaries on innovation and manufacturing" with the iPhone Duo, which is available to pre-order starting this Friday at 5 a.m. Pacific Time.
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In an interview with TIME's Andrew R. Chow, Apple's marketing chief Greg Joswiak said Apple Intelligence is meant for "everyday people" as opposed to the "lunatic fringe."


The full sentence: "In the midst of a populist AI backlash, they contend that they are building a modest but personalized and privacy-preserving form of AI that will actually help ordinary people as opposed to merely dazzling Silicon Valley's 'lunatic fringe,' as Greg Joswiak, senior vice president of worldwide marketing, puts it."

Joswiak apparently believes Apple Intelligence is not for "die-hard AI believers chasing superintelligence," as Chow described it.

"We love them, and they can use it too, but that's not our target," said Joswiak. "It's how to make it better for everyday people."

Joswiak added that "we don't feel threatened" in regards to Apple facing competition in the AI industry. "The fact that we can do the integration that we can means we can create just a better experience than anybody else," he said.
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Apple CEO John Ternus has been featured on the cover of TIME Magazine's "Best Inventions of 2026" edition, available October 26.


Ternus, who joined Apple in 2001 and was formerly its senior vice president of hardware engineering, succeeded Tim Cook as the company's CEO on September 1. This paved the way for Ternus to unveil the iPhone Duo just eight days later.

Ternus believes the iPhone Duo stands apart from other foldable smartphones.

"The other examples in the world felt kind of cheap and crappy," said Ternus, in an interview with TIME's Andrew R. Chow.

Ternus was eight years old when his father purchased an Apple II computer. "I started playing games on it and fell in love with Apple," he said.

Cook remains at Apple as executive chairman, with his primary focus being engaging with policymakers around the world. "He has great relationships and loves Apple," Ternus said of Cook. "So wherever he can help, he is happy to help."

In a separate interview, Cook said he is "not meddling" with Ternus.

Apple's large language models that power Siri AI are "based on Google's Gemini models and cloud technology," according to a joint announcement from Apple and Google earlier this year. When asked about this, Ternus said Apple does not always have to make the whole widget, with the company focused on areas it can provide "differentiation."

"There's not really a goal that we have to make every single thing in a product," he said. "We make the things where we can really bring differentiation."

Apple also tries to remain focused.

"You can't do everything," Ternus added. "So we kind of try to constrain ourselves to the stuff that matters most—and then put all of our effort into those things."

The full magazine cover is below.


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Apple today announced that customers have until 9 p.m. Pacific Time today to "get ready" for their iPhone Duo pre-order.

By completing this process via Apple's online store or the Apple Store app, Apple said customers can "check out with a single click" when iPhone Duo pre-orders go live on Friday, October 16 at 5 a.m. Pacific Time. The device launches on Friday, October 23.
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Apple this week introduced an all-new HomeView smart home hub, but popular tech reviewer Marques Brownlee is "not convinced" about it.


In his HomeView impressions video on his YouTube channel MKBHD, Brownlee said "I cannot figure any group that this is actually ideal for."

HomeView has a lot of overlap with other Apple devices, including the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and HomePod. Brownlee said the HomeView does not provide enough "extra value," leading him to believe that the device should be "a skip for most people."


HomeView lacks an App Store, which limits its usefulness, but it can also display CarPlay-enabled audio and video apps from a paired iPhone.

Do you think the HomeView is a useful addition to the Apple ecosystem? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
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Apple's new HomeView underwent regulatory testing in October 2024, and it was running what would now be known as HomeView software version 18, according to an FCC document uncovered by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris.

The document provides the clearest evidence yet that the HomeView was held up due to Siri AI's delayed launch. Apple initially previewed the more intelligent version of Siri at WWDC 2024, but in March 2025 the company announced that it needed more time to get it ready. Siri AI finally launched this September.
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The free Apple Invites app for the iPhone was updated today with two new features: hosts can now more easily manually add guests to an event and mark their RSVP status, and the app's Home Screen widget now supports the extra large size option.


Released in February 2025, the Apple Invites app makes it easy to invite people to events, such as birthday parties and baby showers. The ability to create an event in the app requires subscribing to an iCloud+ plan with at least 50GB of storage for $0.99 per month, but anyone who receives an event link can RSVP for free on any device.

Apple's full release notes for version 1.12.1 of the app:

• Hosts can now more easily manually add guests to the event and mark their RSVP status, so your guest list stays accurate even when someone confirms outside the app.

• Invites widget now supports the extra large size to give you more options to countdown on your Home Screen.

• This update contains bug fixes and performance improvements.

The update is available now in the App Store.
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Apple Del Amo in Torrance (Los Angeles area) has been temporarily closed for a few days, and Apple has now added the following notice to the store's page: "We'll be right back. Our store is temporarily closed due to events beyond our control."

According to Reddit comments, the store allegedly suffered extensive water damage following a roof leak in the shopping mall.
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Update – 10:30 a.m. Pacific Time: CNET has corrected its article and now says only the HomePod mini 2 will support Siri AI. Original article follows.

---

Siri AI will apparently not be limited to the new HomePod mini 2, with support also coming to the first-generation HomePod mini in a software update later this year, according to a report today from CNET's Jeff Carlson.


"The HomePod Mini 2 also gets a faster S10 processor, which should help with processing Siri AI requests," he said. "However, the current S5-powered HomePod Mini will also get Siri AI compatibility later this year, along with updates to iOS 27.2."

Fine print on Apple's website does not mention this detail, at least as far as we have seen, so we have reached out to the company for comment.

For the Apple TV 4K, Apple's fine print did mention that Siri AI support will extend back to the second-generation Apple TV 4K from 2021, but we have not found any explicit fine print mention about Siri AI coming to the HomePod mini (1st generation).

Apple said setting up Siri AI on the HomePod mini 2 will require a paired iPhone or iPad model with Apple Intelligence support.

A paired device iPhone or iPad with Apple Intelligence support is also required for any requests involving a user's personal context, according to Apple. However, once Siri AI is enabled on the HomePod mini, the company said that even users without an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone or iPad can access Siri AI's broad world knowledge, richer and more natural conversations, and improved music discovery.

HomePod mini 2 launches on Friday, October 30, with pre-orders underway. It has an S10 chip, up from the S5 chip in the previous model.
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Apple's tech specs page for its all-new HomeView smart home hub contains a list of all of the built-in Apple apps available on the device.


While it has no App Store, the HomeView can also display CarPlay-enabled audio and video apps from a paired iPhone. This includes Audiobooks, Apple Music Classical, Apple News, and Apple TV, along with third-party apps such as Spotify, according to WIRED.

The full list of built-in Apple apps on the HomeView:

• Alarms


• Calendar


• FaceTime


• Find My


• Home


• Intercom


• Messages


• Music


• Podcasts


• Reminders


• Safari


• Settings


• Timers


• Weather


• World Clock

CarPlay-enabled apps from iPhone available on HomeView:

• Apple Music Classical


• Apple News


• Apple TV


• Audiobooks


• "Supported third-party audio and video apps" such as Spotify

The latest version of the Apple Developer Program agreement confirms the availability of certain CarPlay apps and widgets on the HomeView.

HomeView is available to pre-order now and launches Friday, November 13.
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We just published Apple's list of iPhone Duo repair fees for customers without AppleCare+ coverage, and we want to bring extra attention to two of the fees in particular: a new cover layer costs $49, and a replacement battery is $229.

Apple's vice president of hardware engineering Kate Bergeron revealed that the iPhone Duo's nano-texture cover layer above the inner display can be removed and replaced. A new one is $19 with AppleCare+ and $49 without.
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Apple today listed its estimated repair fees for the iPhone Duo without AppleCare+ coverage, with the maximum fee in the U.S. for "other damage" set at $1,499.


If you only damage certain parts of the iPhone Duo, the fees are more manageable. For example, the repair fee for damaged back glass is set at $199.

If you eventually want to replace the battery in your iPhone Duo, that will cost you $229.

As we previously reported, Apple said the iPhone Duo's nano-texture cover layer above the inner display can be removed and replaced, and now we know that Apple will be charging $49 for a cover layer replacement without AppleCare+ coverage.

Here is Apple's full list of iPhone Duo repair fees without AppleCare+ coverage:

• Cover layer damage: $49


• Back glass damage: $199


• Battery service: $229


• Rear camera damage: $229


• Outer display damage: $379


• Outer display and back glass damage: $509


• Inner display damage: $999


• Other damage: $1,499

iPhone Duo repair fees with AppleCare+ coverage were already known, but the fees without AppleCare+ coverage were finally disclosed today.

Here are Apple's fees if you have AppleCare+ coverage for your iPhone Duo, which costs $19.99 per month, $199.99 per year, or $399 upfront:

• Battery service below 80% capacity: $0


• Cover layer damage: $19


• Back glass damage: $29


• Outer display damage: $29


• Inner display damage: $99


• Other accidental damage: $99


• Theft or loss: $149

iPhone Duo pre-orders begin this Friday, October 16. The device launches Friday, October 23.
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An addendum to our report about the HomePod mini 2 working as a default speaker on all Mac models with Wi-Fi 6E and later: Apple says this ability extends to the full-sized HomePod 2.

Apple's fine print for HomePods as default Mac speakers says "compatible with HomePod mini 2 and HomePod (2nd generation) with support on all Mac desktops and laptops with Wi-Fi 6E or later."
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