My HomePod mini, which I bought from eBay for £50 a couple of years ago, has slowly become less and less a bespoke, helpful audio device to a glorified voice-controlled kitchen timer. I suspect something similar has happened all over the world with other HomePod minis as well — after all, the device itself has been out since 2020, and has only seen color updates since then.
But that looks to be changing this year, with Apple likely to launch a new HomePod mini, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. It could well be coming alongside a refresh to the Apple TV box, along with improvements to Siri.
New HomePod mini: What do we know?
Gurman's report is very thin on the ground about what we can actually expect from the new HomePod mini, but we can make some educated guesses as to what we might see from the device. Based on the HomePod 2 that was released last year, we reckon we'll see a very similar outward design which finds most of its improvements on the inside.
I'd like to see a new display on the top, with clearer resolution like the HomePod 2. I'd also like it to sound better, although given that Apple managed to squeeze some impressive audio into the first model, it'll likely be difficult to improve further.
Gurman does tell us to expect improved Siri on the new devices, in accordance with "Apple's new smart home ecosystem." That's the most exciting part if you ask me — after all, asking Siri to do anything with my now aging HomePod mini becomes more and more a pain every time I get told "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that."
Apparently, Siri is going to become more conversational, and that hopefully means that it'll be better at understanding what I ask it. Until it comes out we won't know for sure, of course. Let's see if the new HomePod mini fits in with the best smart speakers.
