Apple TV 4K would support four HomePods for surround sound
Last month, a proven leak revealed that Apple had been testing the ability to connect four HomePods to an Apple TV 4K for surround sound, with the HomePods intended to be arranged in the front left, front right, rear left and rear right positions. Today, more evidence of this feature has emerged ahead of an Apple announcement.
First, the same leaker known as “pdfu” discovered additional code related to a HomePod quad surround sound system in the latest beta version of audioOS, which is Apple’s internal name for the HomePod’s operating system. For example, on the third beta of audioOS 27.2, it said that “Siri can associate a speaker with its surround system.”
Second, Woozad Contributor Aaron Perris discovered that the third beta of macOS 27.2 contains two new SF symbols representing a group of four speakers in a room. Although HomePod isn’t mentioned in the symbol names, one appears to show a top-down view of the HomePods, and the other mentions that the four speakers are part of a home theater setup. The timing of Apple’s addition of these symbols suggests that they may be related to the rumored HomePod quad surround sound feature.
Apple plans to unveil new HomePod mini and Apple TV 4K models on Tuesday, October 13, according to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman, as he said the full-size HomePod would be updated “eventually.” However, it’s unclear whether this surround sound feature will require new HomePods. Leaker “pdfu” previously said that Apple tested two different configurations, including four second-generation HomePods and two second-generation HomePods in the front position paired with two new speakers in the rear position.
It’s also unclear whether existing Apple TV 4K models will support four HomePods or whether the functionality will be limited to the upcoming model.
Currently, you can set two HomePod or HomePod mini speakers as the default audio output on all Apple TV 4K models for stereo sound.
With new HomePod and Apple TV models on the horizon and all the growing evidence of Apple software code and symbols, it seems likely that Apple will unveil this new feature fairly soon, barring any last-minute issues.
