The new Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini are officially on the way, and both devices could arrive as soon as September 2026. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the hardware for both products has been “done for months” and is already being tested internally by Apple employees at the company’s Cupertino campus.
So why the wait? The entire launch hinges on Apple’s long-delayed AI-powered Siri overhaul, which is now expected to debut alongside iOS 27 at WWDC 2026 on June 8. The public release is projected for September, and the new hardware will follow.
This represents the longest gap between Apple TV updates in the product’s history. The current Apple TV 4K launched in October 2022, while the HomePod mini has not received a hardware refresh since its original debut in October 2020.
Why Apple Is Holding Both Devices for Siri
The delay is not a hardware problem. It is a software one.
Apple has been developing a completely rebuilt version of Siri that functions more like a modern AI chatbot, similar to ChatGPT or Google Gemini. This next-generation Siri will support persistent conversations, contextual memory, multi-step actions across apps, and on-screen awareness. Apple originally planned to ship these features in iOS 26.4 earlier this year, but reliability issues pushed the timeline back to iOS 27.
The new Apple TV and HomePod mini are designed to showcase these AI capabilities. Launching them without the upgraded Siri would undercut the core selling point of both devices. According to reporting from 9to5Mac, these products will largely be chip upgrades, but the AI integration is what makes them worth the wait.
Apple has reportedly licensed Google’s Gemini models to power portions of the new Siri, after its own in-house AI models proved insufficient for the conversational experience the company envisioned. This means that Siri on the new Apple TV and HomePod mini should be capable of answering complex questions, controlling smart home devices through natural…