Today Apple unveiled the HomePod mini, the newest member of the HomePod family, HomePod mini provides incredible sound, Siri’s intellect to get things done, and a smart home experience without complexities that offers comfort and convenience. HomePod mini is packed with revolutionary technology and advanced software at just 3.3 inches tall that together allow computational audio to deliver the breakthrough quality of audio wherever it is mounted.
The HomePod mini will be available at Apple.com at a fantastic price of only $99 (Rs. 9,900 in India) in white and space grey. Customers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States can order HomePod mini from 5 a.m. PST on Friday, November 6, beginning the week of November 16 with availability. The HomePod mini will be available later this year in China, Mexico, and Taiwan.
HomePod mini is compatible with iPhone SE, iPhone 6s or later, or iPod touch (7th generation) with iOS 14; or iPad Pro, iPad (5th or later generation), iPad Air 2 or later, or iPad mini 4 or later with iPadOS 14.
“HomePod mini has everything consumers want in a smart speaker, great sound for listening to music, a world-class intelligent assistant that provides each household member with personal experience, and it’s built with privacy and protection in mind, like any Apple product,” said Bob Borchers, vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing for Apple.
“HomePod mini is for anyone with an Apple smartphone, the ultimate smart speaker. It works easily with the iPhone to hand music off, answer calls, or provide customized listening tips, elevate Apple TV sound, play Mac music, and so much more. There’s a lot of Apple creativity, all at an affordable price, packed into such a small speaker,” said Bob Borchers.
HomePod mini is intended to work with Apple Music, podcasts, iHeartRadio, radio.com, and TuneIn radio stations, and popular music services like Pandora and Amazon Music in the coming months.
Multiple HomePod mini speakers work together, all in perfect harmony, to stream music or podcasts to multiple spaces. A stereo pair can be created for a large soundstage by putting two HomePod mini speakers in a single room, filling the space with rich, enveloping sound.
HomePod mini offers an extremely rich and comprehensive acoustic experience to achieve optimal efficiency by using computational audio. The Apple S5 chip in HomePod mini works with advanced software to analyze the specific features of the music and apply complex tuning models to maximize loudness, change the dynamic range, and monitor the movement of the driver and passive radiators in real-time to achieve broad sound out of such a compact design.
Driven by a neodymium magnet and a pair of force-canceling passive radiators, the Apple-engineered full-range driver allows for deep bass and crisp high frequencies.
HomePod mini features an acoustic waveguide developed by Apple to direct the sound flow down and out to the bottom of the speaker for an immersive 360-degree audio experience, using the same acoustic principles used to produce incredible sound on HomePod. This enables customers to position the HomePod mini in a room almost anywhere and hear clear sound.
For “Hey Siri,” a three-microphone array listens, and a fourth inward-facing microphone helps isolate sound coming from the speaker to enhance speech recognition when playing music.
With Siri’s intellect, the HomePod mini provides iPhone customers with a customized and deeply optimized experience. Siri can recognize and respond to personal requests, such as accessing messages, reminders, notes, and calendar appointments, or making and answering phone calls, by tailoring music and podcasts to their tastes.
For a brief snapshot of their day, Siri also offers users a personal update. Users can ask Siri “What’s my update?” with one single message. “Hear the latest news, weather, traffic, reminders, and appointments from the calendar.
By bringing the sound from Apple TV to the next level, HomePod mini works easily with Apple devices, making it easy to pick up an incoming call, listen to music on the Mac, or improve the TV experience. Customers can easily carry their smartphone next to the HomePod mini while listening to music on the iPhone and effortlessly hand off the music without missing a beat.
And later this year, when sound transfers from one unit to the other Personalized listening recommendations will also automatically appear on iPhone when it is next to HomePod mini, the experience gets even better with visual, auditory, and haptic effects, and instant controls are available without having to unlock iPhone.
With simple voice commands for Siri to switch the lights off, adjust the temperature, lock the doors, or set a scene, the HomePod mini makes it easier than ever to control smart home accessories. The ideal home hub is the HomePod mini, offering access to smart home gadgets at home or abroad.
A new Intercom feature provides family members with a fast and easy way to communicate at home with each other. An intercom message can be sent from one HomePod to another by one user, whether in a different space, a specific location, or multiple rooms in the home, and their voice will be played on the specified HomePod speaker automatically.
Intercom works with iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods, and CarPlay, so that intercom alerts can be accessed by anyone in the household, and Intercom messages can be sent from the backyard or on their way home.
In developing Apple hardware, software, and facilities, security and privacy are central. With HomePod mini, any information is sent to Apple servers only after “Hey Siri” is recognized locally on the computer, or the user activates Siri by touch. Requests are not connected with the user’s Apple ID and are not marketed to advertisers or other organizations for personal details.
HomePod mini works with the iPhone without disclosing this information to Apple to complete requests for messages and notes on the computer.
Siri iPhone and iPad shortcuts are available on HomePod mini, so users can ask Siri on HomePod mini to start a coffee pot, monitor a robot vacuum, add milk to the list of groceries, and more.
The ideal background noise to concentrate, relax, or fall asleep is provided by ambient noises, including rain, a fireplace, a waterfall, and more. The sleep timer can be set by Siri, so the sounds stop playing automatically.
“Find My” app helps locate an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or Apple Watch that is lost by playing a sound to identify its location. HomePod mini web search results can be sent directly to the user’s iPhone for easy viewing. Music alarms let users wake up to a favorite Apple Music album, playlist, or radio station.
99 percent of HomePod mini uses recycled rare earth components, with 100 percent recycled rare earth components used for the neodymium magnet in the speaker motor. More than 90% of recycled plastic is made of transparent mesh cloth, and all of the packaging wood fibers come from responsibly managed woods or recycled sources. It is also free of arsenic, brominated flame retardants, PVC, and beryllium from HomePod mini.
HomePod mini uses power-efficient components and software that during periods of inactivity can power them down intelligently. HomePod mini, for example, has been configured to be useful in its low-power mode, where most of the time is spent, through optimized power management features and a high-efficiency power supply.
As a consequence, right out of the box, the HomePod mini is energy efficient. The HomePod mini uses 75 % less energy than the strict ENERGY STAR specifications.
We may receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article at no cost to you, though all opinions are our own. For more information, please read our ethics statement. Please note that pricing and availability are subject to change.
