When I first heard about the new $149 HomePod Mini 2 at Apple’s Welcome Home event last month, I was disappointed. It’s been six years since Apple launched its entry-level smart speaker, and all it got in the second generation was an increase in chip, some bright colors, and better AirPlay? For $50 more than the original, which launched at $99, Apple didn’t even upgrade the sound system. It felt like the company called this one.
Now that I have a pair in my hands and set them up in my home office, I’m more excited. The Mini 2 is much faster than the first-generation Mini, playing music in seconds and responding to smart home commands just as quickly. If you’re tired of standing in front of your HomePod waiting for it to finally do what you asked it to, then that alone is worth the upgrade.
Here are my three favorite features of the new Mini 2 after spending a couple of days with it, and my only big disappointment.
Siri is much more agile and less talkative
The biggest update for the Mini 2 is Siri AI, but it’s not available yet. Apple says it will come “later” in a software update. However, the basic smart voice assistant has definitely improved. Siri on the Mini 2 is much snappier than on the first-generation Mini, regularly responding in less than three seconds. This is due to a newer, faster processor (the S10, compared to the S5) and support for Wi-Fi 6E (compared to Wi-Fi 4).
When I asked Siri to play Taylor Swift, a song started within a couple of seconds. He correctly told me who won this year’s World Series in less than two seconds and turned off the light or opened the blinds in less than three seconds.
That’s a big improvement over the up to 10 seconds I often have to wait for Siri to get things done on the first-generation Mini. However, when asking something more difficult, like who will win the US midterm elections, the familiar offer of viewing some web results on my iPhone still arises. Like I said, Siri AI isn’t here yet.
The other new behavior I really enjoy is that when I ask Siri to perform a smart home action, like opening the blinds or turning on the lights, instead of “OK, Jen” or “Just a second,” followed by a verbose confirmation of the action that I often get on the first-generation Mini, the Mini 2 just does it and doesn’t respond. It’s not quiet for every action, but it’s quiet enough to be a noticeable improvement.
This Mini is beautiful in green and sounds great.
The green color is divine. This is the nicest small smart speaker I’ve ever seen and I’ve tried them all.
Yes, the purple of Amazon’s Echo Dot Max is fun, the pale green of the Google Home Speaker is elegant, but Apple’s bright green is really sophisticated. It’s a color that fits very well in several places in my house and I’m very happy that the company has finally released a green option. It’s a big improvement on the slightly garish yellow and orange of the previous generation Minis and the best of the new colours.
I saw all the colors in person at Apple’s Welcome Home event, and while the pink is pretty, it’s very pale and the blue is functionally identical to the first-gen blue, maybe a shade lighter. While many people will be happy with black (don’t choose white unless you plan to dust it regularly), green is my new go-to.
Two green HomePod Mini 2 look so good on the walnut Nanoleaf monitor stand I’m testing; It’s like my office has received an instant update. And while Apple hasn’t updated the Mini 2’s speakers, it’s still a very good speaker for its size, doing a good job with Bad Bunny’s bass and delivering clear mids and vocals. While $300 is steep for computer speakers, two as a stereo pair in my office definitely provided room-filling sound.
You can finally turn off touch
A few weeks ago I reached for my phone on my nightstand and accidentally bumped the top of my HomePod Mini, blasting music in the bedroom at 3 a.m. My husband was not happy.
A new setting in the Home app now lets you lock the Mini’s top controls. This applies to all HomePods, old and new, and is a major quality of life improvement. How often do you intentionally touch the top of your HomePod? I bet much less frequently than accidentally!
The other new trick for the top of the HomePod is Sound Glow. This causes the LEDs to display colors that match the album art of the song you’re playing (it’s also backwards compatible with the first-generation Mini and second-generation HomePod). It’s great, but it only works with Apple Music and Podcasts and is so subtle that I don’t feel like it adds much to my music listening experience.
Beyond the speed improvement, the other new feature I was excited about is the HomePod Mini 2’s ability to be your Mac’s default speaker using what Apple calls “a persistent, responsive AirPlay connection.” This creates a point-to-point wireless connection between your computer and HomePod.
You can pair a single speaker or a stereo pair with your Mac, and the feature also works with the second-generation HomePod. (Two or four HomePod Mini 2 can now also be part of a surround sound setup using the new Apple TV 4K.)
Unfortunately, I couldn’t configure the Mac speaker to work. I have the necessary hardware: a Mac that supports Wi-Fi 6E, running the public version of macOS 27.2 (a Mac Mini M4), and HomePods on HomePod 27.2 software. But the Sound panel in my Mac’s settings didn’t offer an option to set a HomePod via AirPlay as the default sound output.
The Mini appeared and connected like any other AirPlay speaker, with the same flaws as regular AirPlay (occasional artifacts, drops, and some delays in notification sounds), plus the Mac defaults to using its built-in speakers when the computer restarts or whenever I activate Siri on the HomePod. I also tried it with a pair of stereo Minis, but they also played on regular AirPlay.
The chip and speed improvements make this a bigger update than it initially seemed.
According to a 9to5Mac In practice, when persistent AirPlay is enabled, the HomePod Mini should appear as a system default output device in System Information, and there should be an option to enable it under “Play sound effects” in the Sound panel in System Settings, but neither were there for me. I’ve seen other reports about the same problem.
I tried hard resetting both HomePods after they were factory updated to 27.2 (it was in beta versions of the HomePod software, but 27.2 is now in general release) and the feature still doesn’t work. I contacted Apple, but the company has not yet responded to my requests; I will update this article if I receive a response or find a solution.
I’ve only been testing the Mini 2 for two days, and while the real test will come when it gets its Siri AI upgrade, the chip increase and speed improvements make this a bigger upgrade than it initially seemed. Apple needs to work on Mac pairing feature; It has a lot of potential, but based on my struggles here, it feels unfinished.
I plan to do a full review once Siri AI launches and of course compare it to Apple’s big new smart home release: the upcoming $299 Apple HomeView smart display. It’s also a home hub, but the screen gives it more functionality. However, at $149, the Mini 2 is now the cheapest way to get an Apple Home hub with Thread and Matter support.
