Apple may finally let you link four HomePods into a room-filling surround sound system

If you own more than two Apple HomePods and have wondered why you can’t sync them together as real surround speakers like other Bluetooth speakers, I have good news. 

The latest audioOS beta code hints that Apple is quietly testing exactly that: the ability to connect more than two HomePods together, along with another feature built to make music fill a room.

So what exactly did this beta code reveal?

A MacRumors forum member dug through audioOS 27 beta 8 and found out something interesting. Buried deep within the operating system’s code were references to a four-speaker surround sound configuration. The code specifically mentioned a four-speaker setup with HomePods in the front-left, front-right, rear-left, and rear-right roles. 

The code also mentions features that you usually find on a real surround sound system. I mean automatic room calibration, speaker-position mapping, timing adjustments, and bass management. It also mentions an equalizer, dialogue enhancement, and separate audio processing files for different types of content.  

Stereo content also gets more flexible handling. The system can either spread it across all four speakers for a wider spatial effect or keep it locked to just the two front units.

What else did the beta reveal?

Beyond the four-speaker setup itself, there’s one detail that stands out. It’s a tuning profile called Forklift, which pairs two existing second-generation HomePods with two speakers carrying a hardware identifier, AID12007.

What’s unique is that the identifier doesn’t match any HomePod Apple has already shipped. The mismatch actually points toward unreleased hardware, which could be a new HomePod mini, a HomePod (3rd Gen), or something else Apple hasn’t taken the covers off yet. 

Then there’s another feature called Party Mode, made for HomePods already set up as a stereo pair. Rather than tuning sound for one ideal spot in the room, it spreads both music and Siri’s responses more evenly across the whole space, no matter where you’re standing in the room.

None of this works today. However, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman claimed that Apple is working on a new HomePod mini, a new Apple TV, and an entirely new smart home hub. Hence, the beta references could be early groundwork for the new hardware.