HomePod

It’s hard to shake the sense that the smart speaker market would look considerably different had the HomePod Mini arrived several years back. It’s not so much that the device is transformative on

In the past several weeks we’ve seen refreshes and product expansions from about every facet of the smart home virtual assistant world. Apple launched the HomePod Mini, Google offered a long-ove

New numbers from Canalys point to a strong growth in smart speaker shipments in Mainland China this year. The market is on track to grow in 2020, having gotten the COVID-19 pandemic mostly under contr

Apple HomePod owners, starting today, will be able to use the newly announced “Intercom” feature to send messages between their HomePod smart speakers. The feature, which arrives via a sof

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the TechCrunch series that recaps the latest OS news, the applications they support and the money that flows through it all. The app industry is as hot as ever, wi

Apple today introduced a new feature designed for use with its HomePod speakers, including its just-introduced HomePod Mini: Intercom. Similar to Alexa’s “announce” feature, Intercom

Today, during its iPhone hardware event, Apple unveiled the $99 HomePod Mini. The HomePod Mini is clearly a reach for a broader swath of new users. The original HomePod managed to impress audiophiles,

Apple is set to announce new iPhone models today. The company is holding a (virtual) keynote at 10 AM PT (1 PM in New York, 6 PM in London, 7 PM in Paris). And you’ll be able to watch the event righ

I guess maybe don’t read this if you like being surprised. Though you already read the headline and saw the first image, so you might as well keep going, right? And this is an Apple event we’r

For starters, iPhones, of course. That one was easy. The company skipped out on new mobile devices during its recent Apple Watch event, owing to COVID-19-related delays. And, of course, the fact that

Nature, a Japanese hardware startup that focuses on IoT home devices, announced the launch of Nature Remo 3, its home appliance smart remote, in the United States and Canada today. Priced at $129, the

This past week I’ve spent ample time looking to revamp my home audio setup. I think my only qualification is that my next setup is as dumb as possible. In the past five years, my setup has gone from

Last year, Apple introduced interest-free financing for new iPhone purchases when you pay with an Apple Card. Today, it’s expanding interest-free Apple Card monthly installments to a range of Ap

Apple is readying a new iPhone for fall to replace the iPhone 11 Pro this fall, Bloomberg reports, as well as follow-ups to the iPhone 11, a new smaller HomePod and a locator tag accessory. The top-en

It’s been a busy couple of months for smart speakers — Amazon released a bunch just this week, including updated versions of its existing Echo hardware and a new Echo Studio with premium s

Today at a special event, Amazon unveiled a bevy of new Echo devices, including several aimed a bit upmarket. The Echo Studio is Amazon’s answer to the Google Nest Max and Apple HomePod. It’s lar

It’s no secret that the HomePod’s software updates have been a bit sluggish, which made it all the more alarming that the device was barely touched on in yesterday’s Apple event. Wel

Amazon is reportedly looking to offer an Echo that more directly competes with high-end speakers like the Sonos line of devices or Apple’s HomePod, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The

Apple’s audio hardware didn’t get a ton of love at WWDC but the devices didn’t go unmentioned, here’s what’s coming to your HomePod and AirPods. For AirPods users, Siri w

The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe her