HomePod mini 2 costs $149 and ships on 30 October, but Siri AI comes later and skips the original miniHomePod mini 2 costs $149 and ships on 30 October, but Siri AI comes later and skips the original mini

Apple announced the HomePod mini 2 on 13 October.

The second-generation speaker keeps the shape of the 2020 original and swaps its S5 chip for an S10, which Apple says drives real-time computational audio. It comes in pink, green, blue, white and midnight. Pre-orders opened on the day, and Apple's release gives Friday 30 October for availability in the US and more than 23 other countries. That makes it the first of the day's products to ship: HomeView and the new Apple TV 4K follow on 13 November. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman had named both the S10 and the 30 October date two days earlier, and for this speaker he was right on both.

How much does the HomePod mini 2 cost?

Prices from Apple's regional newsrooms, 13 October 2026.

The Verge puts the US price $20 above the current model, which is being discontinued. 9to5Mac notes that the original launched at $99 in 2020 and rose to $129 earlier this year.

When does the HomePod mini 2 get Siri AI?

Not at launch. Apple's release says Siri AI comes to the HomePod mini 2 in a future free software update, in English, in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa. It gives no date. The speaker ships on HomePod software 27.2. The Verge reports that Apple confirmed Siri AI will not come to the original HomePod mini at all.

Once it arrives, Siri AI needs the owner of the home in the Home app to have an Apple Intelligence iPhone or iPad with Siri AI turned on. The speaker can then recognise up to six people by voice and draw on each person's Messages, calendar and reminders. Anyone else in the house still gets the general knowledge, conversation and music search, Apple says.

What else is new

• Sound Glow: the top of the speaker lights in colours taken from the album art of the song playing, and pulses with the bass and treble. It also animates with soundscapes such as rain. Voice control for it needs an Apple Intelligence iPhone.
• Mac speaker: a single HomePod mini 2 or a stereo pair can act as a Mac's speakers, on any Mac with Wi-Fi 6E or later. The Verge says Apple calls this an audio companion, a persistent low-latency AirPlay link.
• Surround: four HomePod mini 2 speakers, or a pair of them with a pair of second-generation HomePods, can act as a surround system for the new Apple TV 4K. The speakers find their own positions and set levels to suit, Apple says.
• Doorbell announcements: with Apple Home Collection doorbells and cameras, the speaker can say who is at the door using Face Recognition.

The Verge, which heard it at the launch event, says the drivers appear unchanged from the first mini, and Apple's release makes no claim of better sound. The audio gains are in processing and in the new ways to group speakers.

Our take

On 30 October this is a $149 speaker that does what the first HomePod mini does, plus lighting, Mac audio and new colours. The reason most people would buy it, Siri AI, arrives on an unannounced date. For anyone happy with a first-generation mini, APPDOOK's advice is to wait for the Siri AI update and for early impressions of it, rather than pre-ordering for a feature that is not there yet.

Leaving the first mini out of Siri AI is the bigger decision. Every original mini will keep the old Siri, so a home with one of each will have two different assistants answering the same question. The surround feature has its own catch: it needs the $299 Apple TV 4K, which does not ship until 13 November, so the first buyers cannot use it until two weeks later. Surround was the feature found in the audioOS 27.2 beta a week before the launch, and it is now confirmed.

The EU is not on the Siri AI list. Because Siri AI on the speaker depends on the home owner's iPhone or iPad having Siri AI, and Apple says Siri AI will not initially be available on iOS or iPadOS in the EU, a European buyer gets the speaker without it. That follows Gurman's report that EU iPhones could wait five months or more. Still unknown: the date of the Siri AI update, whether it reaches the 2023 HomePod as well, and whether Sound Glow works with apps other than Apple Music.