ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Apple announced its new HomePod Mini 2 after a six-year hiatus.
- You can finally bring Siri AI into your home.
- HomePod Mini 2 has several connectivity upgrades for a richer experience.
Apple’s HomePod Mini 2 is here, and after a six-year hiatus, the company’s smallest home speaker has more features than ever. The HomePod Mini 2 features several upgrades to its internal connectivity tech, enabling new capabilities, including Siri AI, surround sound with Apple TV 4K, and an LED lighting experience that complements its audio output.
Also: Forget Wi-Fi: Apple is betting on Bluetooth with its new home devices
Some things are the same between the HomePod Mini 2 and its six-year-old sibling, however. It still acts as a home hub for your HomeKit-compatible Apple devices, including features such as Sound Recognition to warn you of sounding alarms, smart home management within the Home app, and a small, unassuming design for those low on space.
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1. Siri AI comes home
You can finally bring Siri AI into your home through the new HomePod Mini 2. According to Apple, the HomePod Mini 2 is powered by its S10 chip, the same processor found in the Apple Watch Series 10 and Series 11.
Siri AI is available on the HomePod Mini 2 in two ways: without a connected Apple device and when connected to an Apple Intelligence-compatible device. If your iPhone or iPad doesn’t support Apple Intelligence and Siri AI, you can still talk to your HomePad Mini 2’s Siri AI for general conversation with deeper knowledge and improved music discovery via conversational prompts.
AppleIf your iPhone or iPad supports Apple Intelligence and Siri AI, the HomePod Mini 2 can connect to up to six compatible devices to deliver contextual information. For example, once your iPhone is connected to your HomePod Mini 2, the speaker can access your Messages, Calendar, Reminders, and other apps, completing tasks for you and providing information based on your device’s data.
2. Upgraded connectivity
Apple fitted the HomePod Mini 2 with major upgrades to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. The first-generation HomePod Mini was equipped with 802.11n Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 4) and Bluetooth 5. The latest generation features 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6E) and Bluetooth 6, which are palpable upgrades and exactly what a six-year gap should bring.
Wi-Fi 6E is an extension of Wi-Fi 6, introducing a tri-band frequency spectrum. The addition of a third 6 GHz band means that only Wi-Fi 6E-compatible devices can operate on it, and the HomePod Mini 2 can circumvent congestion on the crowded 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. The result is zero interference from older household electronics, including those in your own home and those from neighbors, on the HomePod Mini 2.
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The upgraded Wi-Fi standard will also bring lower latency and greater security to the HomePod Mini 2, provided the devices it interacts with also support Wi-Fi 6E, which is also found in the new Apple HomeView, while the new Apple TV 4K supports the even more upgraded Wi-Fi 7.
Additionally, the HomePod Mini 2’s Bluetooth 6 upgrade allows for enhanced spatial awareness, which is likely the foundational technology for the speaker’s new four-speaker home theater array. Alongside Wi-Fi 6E’s reduced congestion, Bluetooth Low Energy helps deliver lower latency, minimizing lip-sync delay.
Bluetooth Low Energy in Bluetooth 6 will also help keep the HomePod Mini 2 connected to essential home devices such as smart locks, keypads, sensors, and alarms when Wi-Fi is unavailable.
3. Deeper ecosystem integration
The HomePod Mini 2 is compatible with the new Apple TV 4K, allowing users to configure up to four speakers into a surround sound system. This feature is compatible with the flagship HomePod, the HomePod Mini, and the new Apple TV 4K, all of which have upgraded spatial connectivity to better understand each other’s positioning in a room.
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Legacy tvOS limited the flagship HomePod to a two-speaker stereo configuration, and opening the floor to two more speakers allows for a wider, fuller soundstage in your living room. This new feature is especially useful if you want to stay within the Apple ecosystem and avoid home theater products from brands like Sonos or JBL, whose smart speakers don’t offer deep HomeKit integration.
If you don’t want to purchase four HomePods, or your TV is already set with home theater speakers, you can also configure two HomePod Mini 2 speakers to serve as your Mac’s left/right audio channels.
Apple4. Sound Glow is super cool
More and more smart home speakers are integrating a smart display as a visual component, and in typical Apple fashion, it takes a minimalist approach. Instead of implementing a full-on screen, like that of the Wiim Sound, Apple went with an ambient light that sits atop the HomePod Mini 2. In visuals from Apple’s press release, the Sound Glow animation reminds me of a blurred version of the Siri symbol when it’s thinking or speaking to you.
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According to Apple, the HomePod Mini 2’s Sound Glow is activated when you’re playing music, reacting and pulsing in real time to bass and treble. Similar to Apple Music’s ambient backgrounds on your source device, the Sound Glow will adopt the colors of the song’s album cover, though “the color-matched light experience is unique to every song”.
Apple hints at some user customization, stating that users can choose soothing soundscapes, such as rainfall or forest sounds, and that unique animations will appear on the Sound Glow. Of course, you can also turn it off completely if you’d rather keep it simple.
The HomePod Mini 2 is available for preorder in pink, green, blue, white, and midnight beginning Oct. 30 for $149.