ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Apple’s new HomePod Mini 2 debuts with several new features.
- Many advanced features will be available on the 2023 HomePod (2nd gen).
- Less advanced features are coming to the 2020 HomePod Mini (1st Gen).
Apple last week announced the new HomePod Mini 2, with several standout capabilities: It enables a four-speaker home theater configuration when paired with the fourth-gen Apple TV 4K, allows up to two speakers to be the standard audio output for compatible Macs, has a dynamic RGB light display, and can lock the speaker’s touch control panel.
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Which older HomePods are getting new features?
As reported by MacRumors, HomePod 27.2 software is available for developers and public beta testing, and may launch next week. According to the same reporting, the following speakers are eligible for these features:
- HomePod (1st gen): Disable touch panel lock controls.
- HomePod Mini (1st gen): Lock controls; Sound Glow RGB light display.
- HomePod (2nd gen): Lock controls; sound light; Mac audio output; four-speaker array when paired with fourth-gen Apple TV 4K.
The first-gen HomePod is excluded from Sound Glow due to incompatibility with its LED light display, and excluded from advanced audio features with Mac and Apple TV 4K due to its older networking and audio processing capabilities. The older processing capabilities of the first generation HomePod Mini also exclude it from persistent audio streams from Apple TV 4K and Mac. However, you can still stream music from your Mac to your first-generation HomePod Mini via AirPlay.
Whole home audio is just as valuable as Siri
The new HomePod Mini 2 will be the only HomePod to get Siri AI, thanks to its upgraded S10 processor, the same one found in the Apple Watch Series 10, 11, SE 3, and Ultra 3. However, with Siri AI probably in your Mac, MacBook, iPad, and iPhone, it may be overkill to have it even four times over HomePod in your living room.
Instead, Apple has realized that it is just as valuable, if not more so, to compete for its consumer loyalty in the home audio space. So it lets you arrange existing HomePods in a four-speaker configuration with Apple TV 4K, or in a single or dual configuration when paired with a Mac.
Also: 4 upgrades HomePod Mini 2 has over its 6-year-old predecessor
While some consumers may be interested in a $1,100 to $1,300 flagship soundbar, others may be better off investing in two HomePod Mini 2s to accompany their existing HomePods (2nd gen). It is certainly a cheaper option. Plus, if you’re already an Apple power user, two more HomePod Mini 2s fit neatly into your Home app; there is no need to download another app to control a third-party surround system.
According to Apple, compatible HomePods can serve as a standard audio output for Macs with Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7.
Previously, users could only use their HomePod with a Mac by streaming audio from the computer to the speaker via AirPlay. When playing audio from third-party apps or media platforms, AirPlay may experience noticeable audio/video delays.
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Although the older HomePod (2.
Longevity is also attractive
Many tech companies pledge to reduce their environmental footprint, usually by using less plastic packaging and making products with recycled materials. However, the surest way to reduce its environmental impact is to keep technical products as long as possible, which keeps decommissioned products and other e-waste out of landfills.
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Apple’s smart speakers do a great job of promoting longevity, thanks to the company’s unified operating system, high-performance processors and more expensive hardware. Despite the negative connotations of these factors, they make sense in a smart home environment: A unified operating system enables longer-term software support, high-performance processors provide headroom for computing upgrades, and more expensive hardware shifts Apple’s margins to upfront sales rather than data collection.