Lingering questions after Apples june keynote

Title: Lingering Questions After Apple's June Keynote Apple delivered its midyear keynote this past week, and it included the announcement of numerous upgrades across its range of products. The big news is expected this fall, when the company will reveal what’s expected to be the most drastically altered iPhone in years. The midyear event is more about previewing software changes and basic product updates that we’ll be seeing in the coming months. Given the nature of the event, here are some questions we still have that will hopefully be answered sometime this fall.

Will The Home Pod Kill Off Home Speakers?

Most of the news at the Apple address was fairly standard. We heard about updates to the app store, new Macbook and Macbook Pro models, a new OS for the watch, and other things of that nature. But the biggest reveal was that of the “Home Pod,” a brand-new product that appears to be an answer to Amazon’s Echo and the Google Home. It’s a melon-sized device equipped with Siri and an A8 processing chip for easy vocal interaction. But it almost seems as if it’s designed more to compete with home speakers systems than anything else. So the logical question is, can it beat them out?

Existing home speakers work in different ways. Google Home is a decent speaker in its own right, and can be spread through the house via Chrome extensions. The Amazon Echo works similarly. And plenty of other companies offer various smart, connected speaker systems that can be customized in numerous ways, with Sonos leading the pack. But early indications are that the Home Pod might top them all. One write-up said the Sonos’s sound isn’t nearly as rich, and that compared to the Home Pod, an Echo sounds like someone is singing through a tin can a mile away. That’s a promising early read on this surprise product from Apple.

What About VR?

Virtual reality has taken the tech world by storm in the last 18 months or so. We pay a lot of attention to how it’s changing the video game industry, but VR goes much further than that. It has applications in film and television, retail shopping, travel, education, and more. We’ve even seen it facilitate the emergence of a new sport, with people using VR to race drones at long distances. These races have been televised on major networks, and sports bookmakers are beginning to take interest. If VR can spark a new sport, it’s probably fair to say we haven’t overstated its significance. And yet, Apple hasn’t gotten in on the action.

We know that midyear Apple events usually aren’t particularly dramatic. But we also know that in the fall we’re expected to devote a ton of attention to the iPhone 8 (whatever it may be called). Because of this, it was reasonable to expect some kind of news regarding what the company plans to do about VR. The rumors are that CEO Tim Cook has a preference for augmented reality, and that there will be some kind of goggles or glasses released eventually—perhaps even alongside the new iPhone. But for now, we’re left wondering when and how Apple is going to get involved.

Is The Mac Mini Headed For The Scrap Heap?

The Mac Mini may not even sound like a real product to a lot of people, and with good reason. It was released back in 2014 and has since been largely forgotten. It was basically a smaller version of a desktop Mac, and there are plenty of people who liked it just fine. Those same people have been wondering why the device hasn’t been updated or renewed for years now, and heading into the event this past week, there were actually rumors of a Mac Mini 2017.

Unfortunately for anyone hoping for such a reveal, there was once again no mention of anything to do with the Mac Mini. The iMac is getting an upgrade, with faster processors, better displays, and more storage; and the MacBook and MacBook Pro are getting similar upgrades. We even learned of the release of the iMac Pro, which Apple’s site describes as the most powerful Mac ever. But among all of the computer changes we heard about, the Mac Mini was missing. One has to wonder at this point if it’s headed for the scrap heap.