Bold colors, bold new idea for music streaming
Last year Apple launched the HomePod Mini: a smaller, rounder and – crucially – more affordable follow up to the original HomePod and, at this year’s fall Apple event, Cook and co. took the covers off of some ‘bold’ new Mini color options.
‘Bold’ is Apple’s word, not ours but the yellow, orange, and blue variants are definitely a bit different to the usual smart speaker palette.
On the inside, the speakers themselves are exactly the same as the original space grey and white HomePod Mini options.
Apple’s smallest smart speaker costs £89 and is 3.3-inches tall (the original HomePod is 6.8-inches in height) and is powered by Apple’s S5 chip.
Like the original HomePod, the HomePod Mini is a 360 degree speaker – meaning it sounds good wherever you place it in the room. It is also capable of multi-room audio with other HomePods (and AirPlay speakers) and you can pair up a duo of Minis for stereo HomePod action.
As well as being a music-focused smart speaker, the HomePod Mini also has smart home features. It can operate as a HomeKit Hub and also packs in a Thread Radio.
The new color trio will be available in November.
They’ll team up nicely with another new Apple launch; the Cupertino giant also used the event to reveal the Apple Music Voice Plan: “a new subscription tier for Apple Music designed around the power of Siri.”
Costing less than an Apple Music plan at £4.99 a month, the idea is that if you only ever use Siri to power your music, you just need this more casual plan.
You can use Siri, on any of your Siri-enabled Apple devices, to play tracks, skip songs, control volume and the like, but you’ll also be able to use Siri’s DJ skills for more specific requests.
Think along the lines of requests like “Hey Siri, play Revolver by the Beatles”, “Hey Siri, play the latest Elbow album”, “Hey, Siri plays some 80s rock” or “Hey Siri, play something relaxing.”
You still get the full access to Apple Music’s 90 million songs – you just don’t get to scroll through albums and playlists on your iPhone, iPad, Mac etc.
Neither do you get Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio, lyrics, music videos or the ability to stream Apple Music through non-Apple devices.
You still get full voice control over your owned music though – whether ripped or purchased and stored locally – and you’ll also get voice access to Apple Radio.
Confused? We agree it is a bit weird but it’ll probably suit some people.
The Apple Music Voice Plan will be available later this fall in 17 countries and regions, including Australia, Austria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan, the UK and the US.