iOS 16 Beta May Have Accidentally Leaked An Upcoming Apple Product
It's not unusual for references to unreleased products to appear deep within the code of operating systems. We have had several examples of this happening in the past. In 2018, for instance, we unearthed Google's entire 2018 Pixel lineup courtesy of developer commits for AOSP. More recently, a mysterious Google device with the codename G10 — thought to be a new flagship-class device from the company — was also spotted in AOSP code.
Given that beta versions of upcoming operating systems could be a goldmine of information pertaining to unreleased hardware, it's become a norm for journalists to pour over thousands of lines of code to extract details about potential new releases. And in some cases, they do end up with some degree of success.
In the latest such instance, folks over at 9to5Mac unearthed references to an unreleased Apple device within the just-released iOS 16 Developer Beta code. While the mention of iOS 16 may have made you think the product was an upcoming iPhone 14 model, in reality, the new device could very well be an upcoming model of the Apple Homepod.
Did iOS 16 Beta just leak the next-gen HomePod?
References to a device called "AudioAccesory6" were discovered in lines of new iOS 16 developer Beta code. This lines up well with previously released code names for HomePod devices from past versions of iOS. The original HomePod, for example, was called the "AudioAccessory1," while the HomePod mini goes by the name "AudioAccessory1" within Apple circles.
Given that most products labeled with the name "AudioAccessory" have ended up as HomePods, chances are high that "AudioAccesory6" could be the first-ever reference to Apple's 2022 HomePod product that has only been mentioned in rumors until now.
As previously reported, Apple is rumored to launch a new product under the HomePod brand later that could be much more than a simple smart speaker. This new product is likely to be an all-encompassing home-centric device that combines the capabilities of the HomePod, Apple TV, and a FaceTime camera into a single unit. Whether "AudioAccesory6" end up becoming this much-rumored HomePod device is something we will find out in the next few months.