Apple has announced a new version of its HomePod smart speaker, the HomePod Mini — a smaller version of the original that shrinks down the original model into a more compact size.
Like the full-size HomePod, the HomePod Mini still features a mesh fabric exterior in both black and white colors, along with a small display on top to show the Siri waveform. The new model is more of a short, spherical shape, however, instead of the more oblong design of the original.
The original HomePod cost $349 when it first launched in 2018, making it far more expensive than any of Amazon’s Echo or the Google Home speakers. That high price, combined with the Apple-only limitations of the original (which only worked with Apple Music, a problem that Apple…