Apple once planned to release a portable battery-powered version of its HomePod smart speaker , according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

In his PowerOn newsletter , Gurman said the company even created a prototype HomePod Bluetooth speaker before ultimately shelving the project. If Gurman's claim is accurate, that's a shame, as there are few truly portable smart speakers on the market right now – we could certainly do with a rival to challenge our favorite model, the Sonos Roam , if only to shake up the market a bit.

Right now, Apple's only wireless speaker , the HomePod mini (Apple discontinued the original HomePod in March last year) needs to be plugged into a power outlet.

More recently, Apple discontinued the only Bluetooth speaker in its subsidiary Beats' range, unceremoniously getting rid of the Beats Pill+ . While the company is yet to confirm the reason behind the move, Apple has been steadily streamlining the Beats product lineup over the last year, having also discontinued the Powerbeats , Beats EP , and Solo Pro headphones and earbuds .

While canning the Beats Pill+ could be Apple's way of making room for a new HomePod Bluetooth speaker, Gurman isn't convinced, saying he would be surprised if a portable smart speaker ever launches under the Apple name.

We're less eager to rule out the possibility, though. After all, Apple has massively expanded its range of audio devices in recent years, making waves in the true wireless earbuds market with the AirPods , and later delving into the world of over-ear headphones with the AirPods Max .

Now that the HomePod range has been reduced to one, smaller version of its original smart speaker, there's certainly an appetite for – and the expectation that – a new HomePod will be launched in the near future.

Analysis: what's next for the Apple HomePod?

The Apple HomePod mini is a fantastic speaker in its own right, but its small stature and low price makes us doubt that Apple wouldn’t release a follow-up to its original flagship smart speaker in a bid to compete with more powerful models like the Amazon Echo Studio and the Sonos One .

Since Apple discontinued the HomePod we’ve seen a number of patents that could suggest that the company is looking to create a new HomePod model – the so-called Apple HomePod 2 – and it may even come with a display, if rumors are to be believed.

In a previous Bloomberg report Gurman said that "before the discontinuation of the larger HomePod, the company had been working on an updated version for release in 2022. It has also been developing new speakers with screens and cameras, but such a launch isn’t imminent".

So, there's no guarantee that a new HomePod will launch this year, but it's apparent that Apple is continuing to explore what it can do in the realm of wireless speakers .

We think it's likely that any new HomePod will act as a replacement for the company's first smart speaker – and that means it will be big and powerful, and probably too weighty to be a portable Bluetooth speaker.

That's not to say that a portable HomePod is totally out of the question. In any case, we'd be surprised if we never saw another Beats Bluetooth speaker. The subsidiary tends to offer cheaper products than Apple's own range of devices, which means the company has a presence across a broad swathe of the audio market.

While Beats products generally play very nicely within the larger Apple ecosystem, they're also usually more operating system-agnostic than the company's own devices, with models like the Beats Fit Pro offering the same features to Android users as to owners of iOS devices.

So we think a Bluetooth speaker under the Beats banner that isn't tied to a specific ecosystem would work well, whereas a smart speaker that can switch between Wi-Fi and Bluetooth just screams 'Apple' – to us, anyway.

In any case, we hope that both Apple and Beats release new speakers in the near future. Right now we only have the Apple HomePod mini, and as much as we like it, its audio performance isn't a patch on that of Sonos's wireless speakers – and we know from the original HomePod that Apple can do fantastic audio outside of the AirPods range of true wireless earbuds and headphones .

South Africa vs India live stream: how to watch 2nd ODI online from anywhere

In a cricket tour that's caused all kinds of problems for the visiting Indians, they now find themselves 1-0 down in a three-game ODI series. Can they draw level in Paarl today? To find out, here's our guide to watch a South Africa vs India live stream and catch ODI cricket action online no matter where you are in the world.

After a magnificent Test series victory, the Proteas took their momentum into Wednesday's first ODI and eased to a 31-run victory. In large part, that was thanks to splendid centuries from Rassie van der Dussen and captain Temba Bavuma. Despite 50s from Shikhar Dhawan, Shardul Tahkur and disposed former captain Virat Kohli, they never really looked in the chase.

But this India team are a resilient bunch, and they've shown time and again that they have strength in depth. If they choose to ring the changes for this 2nd ODI at Boland Park, the fresh faces will be desperate to bring parity to the series score.

Will South Africa seal the series, of can KL Rahul's men turn the tide and level things up? Find out by following our guide to find a reliable 2022 South Africa vs India cricket live stream and watch every six and wicket online from anywhere.

South Africa vs India ODI schedule and dates

How to watch South Africa vs India cricket from outside your country

In India, South Africa, the UK, Australia, New Zealand or the US? We've got you covered with your official broadcasting options below.

But if you're out of the country and are still desperate to tune into certain matches, you'll quickly find that online access is geo-blocked. In order to get around that (and assuming it complies with the Ts&Cs of the broadcaster in question), you can download and use a VPN .

Use a VPN to live stream cricket from anywhere

How to watch ODI cricket online in India

How to live stream ODI cricket in South Africa

How to watch South Africa vs India live stream in UK

South Africa vs India live stream: where to watch cricket in the US (and Canada)

How to watch South Africa vs India: live stream ODI cricket in Australia

iPhone 14 Pro could have a distractingly big camera cut-out

We’ve been hearing for a while that the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max might have a punch-hole selfie camera rather than a notch, but the latest leak suggests that rather than just a small circular cut-out in the screen, this will be pill-shaped.

That’s according to leaker @dylandkt on Twitter, who’s been right about Apple information in the past, and while they don’t talk about the size, being pill-shaped suggests it will be rather bigger than a typical punch-hole camera.

We’ve seen pill-shaped cut-outs before, such as on the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus , and they’re typically around twice the size of circular ones (because they usually house two lenses). In the case of the iPhone 14 Pro, there’s no suggestion that it will be getting a dual-lens selfie camera, so presumably the extra space will be to house some of the Face ID components.

Hopefully not too many of them, or that could make the camera cut-out distractingly large, but there’s hope there, as the same source claims that the Face ID hardware will be placed under the display, and that the functionality of the sensors hasn’t been negatively affected by this change.

So if this is all accurate then at the very least the camera cut-out should be significantly smaller than the current notch, but perhaps not quite as small as we’d hoped – or as most of the competition.

It’s worth noting also that this change is only expected for the Pro models, with the standard iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Max reportedly still having a notch.

Analysis: a step in the right direction

This news is a little less promising than some of the iPhone 14 Pro leaks we’ve heard, but it would still make for a big step in the right direction.

It would mean the removal of the notch – even if its replacement is still quite large – and we wouldn’t be surprised if Apple worked to decrease the size of the camera cut-out in future generations, by placing ever more components under the screen.

So perhaps the iPhone 15 or iPhone 16 ranges would have a more conventional punch-hole, and eventually maybe we’d see a move to under-display cameras, like you get on a handful of Android phones such as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 .

That tech hasn’t been perfected yet, which is probably at least part of why no iPhone has this, but we’d imagine this is the goal for most manufacturers – Apple included.

Via PocketLint