Apple: New HomePod mini with mini modification
Apple has reissued one of its small smart speakers. Apart from the color, nothing has changed – and even that is similar to the old version.
Would you have recognized it? The HomePod mini on the top right has a new color!
(Image: Apple)
On Monday afternoon, Apple presented a new product from its HomePod mini series, which has been on the market since 2020 and was equipped with new colors for the first time in 2021. The only new feature is that the previous – dark gray-black – color "Space Gray" has been replaced by a new variant called "Midnight". This looks slightly less grayish, but only people with very good eyesight and/or people who know the RAL color chart by heart will notice the difference.
Alignment with HomePod 2
The price has not changed, the smart speaker still costs 109 euros, which usually amounts to 95 to 99 euros at retail. The previous standard colors white, yellow, orange and blue will also remain in the range. The "Midnight" version is said to be made of "100 percent recycled mesh", while operation and functionality remain unchanged. The 8.4 cm high speaker delivers powerful mono sound for its size, can be combined with a second HomePod mini to create a stereo pair, supports Siri and has a touch surface without a real screen.
Why Apple swapped the two colors for each other now, of all times, remained unclear at first. At least it has one advantage: the HomePod 2 also comes in "midnight", so that the small and large speakers are aligned. However, there are likely to be relatively few users who operate HomePod 2 and mini in parallel.
Apple's little color chaos
"Midnight" is used as a color tone for the MacBook Air, among others, but it is significantly bluer there than for HomePod 2 and HomePod mini. Unfortunately, Apple tends to name colors the same, but change them visually – even "Space Gray" is not the same as "Space Gray" and is sometimes used darker and sometimes lighter.
Apple plans to sell the new color from July 17, and orders can already be placed in the company's online store. There are currently few hopes that the company could give the HomePod mini a second generation as soon as possible (for example, like the in-house competition from Beats, including the battery) - the new color is more likely to suggest that the devices will remain on the market unchanged for longer. There has also been a long wait for the new AirPods Max.
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