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Hands on: HomePod mini 2 has promise, but is underwhelming right now

Hands on: HomePod mini 2 has promise, but is underwhelming right now

The new $149 HomePod mini 2 is finally available six years after the last model shopped. While it shows some promise, there's just not enough here yet.

You'd be hard-pressed to differentiate the new HomePod mini 2 from the original. Put the Midnight or white models side-by-side and they're indistinguishable.

Physically, the only thing that sets them apart is the logo on the bottom. It's no longer printed, but is now molded into the rubber footing.

It's easier to differentiate if you have one of the new colors. Aside from Midnight and white, the HomePod mini 2 also comes in a slightly lighter blue, as well as pink and green.

Personally, I love the new green color, but I wish some of the other ones stuck around. I would have been thrilled if we had another orange model or a dark red.

Close-up of green mesh fabric with diamond-shaped holes revealing dark blue background, showing detailed woven texture and repeating geometric pattern

HomePod mini 2 has a dual-color mesh

The new colors have this dual-color 3D mesh, which is cooler when you get up close. On the green, the underlying layer is blue and is a subtle design accent to appreciate.

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After picking up a green model for myself, I have been testing it the last couple of days in my home. Let's see how it compares to my original HomePod minis.

Noticeably faster

The biggest thing I noticed with the new HomePod mini 2 is how fast it is. Apple upgraded it from the S5 processor to the S10.

Hand holding a smartphone playing music, screen showing album art, positioned close to a small green smart speaker with glowing touch controls on a gray fabric surface

Hand Off is much quicker on the HomePod mini 2

Handoff and Siri answers are much faster on the updated speaker. It makes it nicer to use and it gives a sense of responsiveness that it didn't have before.

Quite often I felt like the old HomePod mini just spun its wheels processing my requests. This isn't reason enough alone to warrant an upgrade, but it's very nice.

The other internal change with the HomePod mini 2 is improved wireless. It has both Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 6.

Speaker pairing

There are two new pairing options for the HomePod mini 2. This little speaker can serve as a dedicated output for your Mac or in a four-speaker array on Apple TV 4K.

The former is limited to Macs that support Wi-Fi 6E or newer while the latter is restricted to the new fourth-generation Apple TV 4K. Since the new Apple TV 4K isn't out yet, I didn't get a chance to test this at home.

Blue spherical smart speaker and small black media box with cables sit on a light wooden shelf in front of an exposed brick wall beside the edge of a television

HomePod mini 2 next to the Apple TV 4K

I did get several opportunities to listen to this at the Apple experience in NYC when the speaker was announced. Compared to only two HomePods, the sound was absolutely more immersive and room-filling.

Your own experience will vary though, and depends on your home. I don't have a lot of great locations to test this, so I don't think I'm going to be setting up a four-HomePod array permanently.

After trying it at the NYC experience, I wanted to try the Mac output, but wasn't able to. Even after updating my MacBook Pro and HomePod mini 2 to the latest 27.2 release, the option didn't present itself.

Cozy home office with wooden desk, green Apple computer, small speakers, white chair, dried flowers, books on a windowsill, tall radiator, and warm wood-paneled walls

HomePod mini 2 and a green iMac

My audio settings still set the speaker up as a regular AirPlay audio destination, versus a dedicated output that would have no delay and play system sounds. Hopefully this gets resolved as a minor early bug.

We could have had more

Here's where I stand: I like the HomePod mini 2. It's a solid speaker and the green looks fantastic to me.

Small green spherical Apple smart speaker with mesh exterior, flat circular top featuring Apple logo, and a white power cable, resting on a soft gray surface against a light background

Underside of the HomePod mini 2

The speed improvement is huge, especially for smart home commands. Lights and other accessories respond right away when I control them via the speaker.

Small green smart speaker with glowing touch controls beside a smartphone playing music on a dark surface

Sound Glow on HomePod mini matches the colors on the speaker to the album artwork

Another new feature, Sound Glow, is slick, but it comes to the old model too. Sound Glow changes the lights on top of the speaker to match the album art of what you're listening to.

I think I just wanted more after all this time. There's no change in audio quality, no updated top display, and the flagship feature isn't available here at launch.

Siri AI is the biggest change to HomePod mini 2 but it is coming "in a future software update." Apple didn't even provide guidance on when this update will arrive.

It could deliver with the upcoming 27.3 beta, or it could ship sometime in 2027. This is wild to me when Apple TV 4K, HomeView, and Apple Watch all got Siri AI before Apple's smart speaker.

After a few days, I'm enjoying the general quality of life improvements, but when I step back, it leaves me wanting more. My guess is my optimism will improve when Siri AI ships, but until then I'm slightly underwhelmed.


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