The only improvement to hardware i can see is portability - most of those ideas are software based and could be applied to the current homepod. The current design is pretty good; nice size/weight, sound deep but lacking mid range, smart features almost perfunctory - but the a8 is enough to run it and most of the suggestions in the article - now, one that can be picked up and be taken into the garden could have possibilities, but I wouldnt expect much better sound from a smaller form factor...