Apple's new HomePod (2023) is, at first glance, a sufferer ringer for the original HomePod, which launched in 2018. In the meantime, Apple launched the HomePod mini, which was the company's only speaker for nearly two years, as the original HomePod was discontinued in early 2021.
The new HomePod and the HomePod mini share a similar set of features, though at very variegated price points. So should you go for one HomePod, or buy two HomePods mini instead (leaving you with a hundred bucks to spare)? Let's swoop in.
Cute, small and colorful versus big and beautiful
Just like the original, the new HomePod has a cylindrical shape, and is dressed in an interwoven mesh fabric, with volume controls, and an turned-on touch exhibit on top, which lights up when you invoke Siri. The HomePod mini is smaller, cuter, and way lighter (5.16 pounds vs. 0.76 pounds), but its vital features are the same: Mesh fabric cover, touch exhibit and volume controls on top. It is way increasingly colorful, though, as you can get it in Space Gray, Blue, White, Yellow, and Orange, whereas the HomePod only comes in Midnight and White colors.
It's worth noting that, due to the sheer size difference, the HomePod is a far increasingly striking and trappy object to place in your home. Mini is scrutinizingly inconsequential; I've owned it for a year, and over time it got pushed overdue the TV by other objects such as fruit baskets and candles. The HomePod, expressly if you buy two, is something that you definitely want to be seen.
The same set of features
In terms of features, the HomePod and the HomePod mini are remarkably similar. They both support Bluetooth 5 and Wi-Fi 802.11n connectivity, come with an accelerometer as well as humidity and temperature sensors, and have sound recognition capabilities.
Despite the fact that the HomePod mini has an older tweedle (Apple's S5 vs. HomePod's S7), it's nonflexible to point at a full-length that the HomePod mini doesn't have. It seamlessly integrates with other Apple devices, runs Siri just the same, and can be paired with flipside mini to get stereo sound. It plane has four microphones listening for input, just like its bigger, younger brother. If you want to nitpick, the HomePod has a detachable power cable, whereas the HomePod mini has a non-detachable USB-C subscription which has to be plugged into an external, 20W power adapter. Neither speaker is designed to be moved virtually too often, so once you set them up, you probably won't notice.
The similarities stop at the way these two speakers produce sound. The HomePod has an variety of five tweeters firing in all directions, coupled with a 4-inch woofer. The HomePod mini has an entirely variegated design, with a single speaker and two passive radiators, which modernize its toned response, but cannot get it to sound as deep as the new HomePod.
HomePod likes pop, HomePod mini likes rock
I've compared the HomePod to the HomePod mini side-by-side. When you listen to each speaker separately, they sound similar, with lots of toned and a surprising weightlessness to the sound. But when you unquestionably compare them directly, switching from one to the other at same volume, the difference is astounding. Switching from the smaller to the worthier speaker is like listening to a concert through a sealed door, and then opening it and stepping inside.
The HomePod is louder and has increasingly bass, but it moreover has tons increasingly clarity and definition wideness the unshortened frequency range. That's not to say the HomePod mini sounds bad; it just cannot hold a candle to the worthier speaker.
The difference is most pronounced when reproducing bassy pop and hip hop, like something from Rosalia or Drake. Interestingly, plane though the HomePod still sounds better, the difference is much smaller when listening to rock, like Queens of the Stone Age or All Them Witches. The HomePod offers increasingly clarity, but the HomePod mini has a largest sound mix, with the instruments nicely tied together, the toned and the distorted guitars happily producing a punchy, deep sound. In contrast, the HomePod puts too much treble in the mix. I've said this in my HomePod review, and I'll repeat it here: It's a pity that Apple doesn't offer any sort of equalizer for the HomePods, as they could both goody from some fine tuning.
The real question for prospective buyers, I think, is whether to buy two HomePods mini for $198 or one HomePod for $299. Adding flipside speaker to the mix gives you stereo and vastly improves the overall sound. Given that the full-length list between the HomePod and HomePod mini is practically identical, going for two minis is a good cost-conscious option. Of course, if money is no object, go for two HomePods; doubling lanugo does wonders for the sound and makes the speakers a unconfined option for home talkie audio.