Today at its event, called ‘Hi, Speed’ Apple unveiled the new HomePod mini a really quite small smart speaker with integrated Siri. The current full size HomePod is £279 and the new HomePod mini is $99 in the US and £99 in the UK. The HomePod mini, as the name suggests is quite a bit smaller than the full size HomePod at just 3.3-inches tall whereas the larger one is 6.8-inches tall. Apple is also using the Apple Watch Series 5 chip to power the HomePod mini, the S5.
The top of the device is a bright screen, used to control the volume and manually invoke Siri.
Like the larger HomePod, two HomePod minis can be used to create a stereo pair and the only few differences between the two, besides the size is the ability to link to an Apple TV for Home Cinema, only the larger HomePod can do this. Also the WiFi technology is different, HomePod has 802.11ac with support for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz whereas Apple has only added ‘802.11n’ to the mini which could mean dual band but it is most likely only going to support 2.4GHz which isn’t that great – we’ll know more when it ships. HomePod mini also lacks “Spatial awareness”
Pre-orders start on 6th November, and shipping starts on 16th November. Apple Care is also quite affordable at £15.
