Apple has unveiled a smarter but tinier HomePod mini smart speaker. And the big news is the price: just US$99.
That price is a big deal, considering the closest competitior to Apple’s smart speaker is the Google Nest Audio Speaker. And while it’s not quite as cheap as Amazon’s Dot, it also promises a lot more audio oomph under its tiny, round hood.
The HomePod mini supposedly boasts “incredible sound for its size”. That’s down to its S5 chip and something called ‘computational audio’. According to Apple, the tiny speaker will analyze your music before it gets piped out – automatically boosting the acoustics for better sound from a smaller area.
The HomePod mini has a few Apple tricks up its sleeve also, including the ability to automatically detect when another HomePod is about and automatically switching to stereo.
It can also make use of a new Apple feature called Telecom, which will let you communicate with other HomePod’s around the house (like a regular telecom) as well as use your phone or Apple Watch to send voice messages to back home if need be.
No word on when the HomePod mini will be available in the UAE, if at all. We are still waiting for the last version to grace our region with its presence, and the UAE is not on the list of approved launch countries for the HomePod mini.
However, if you are residing in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Spain, the UK, and the US – then you will be able to pre-order from November 6, and get the HomePod mini through the mailbox on November 16.
For the rest of us in the Middle East, we’ll keep waiting Apple.
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