Apple's second-generation smart speaker is here, built for an AI assistant that isn't actually turned on yet.
Apple unveiled the HomePod Mini 2 on October 13th, 2026, with a new chip designed to eventually run Siri's AI features, though the company says those features won't be available at launch. The speaker adds a sound glow effect that syncs its LED ring to a song's album art, can act as the default speaker for a Mac, and lets up to four units pair with the new Apple TV 4K for surround sound. It ships in pink, green, blue, white, and black, with preorders opening today. At $149, it costs $50 more than the original HomePod mini's $99 price, which Apple is discontinuing.
That's the real story here: Apple is asking buyers to pay a premium today for hardware whose headline feature, on-device Siri AI, arrives on a timeline nobody's named. It's the same playbook Apple and plenty of rivals have leaned on this year: ship the chip, promise the software update, and let the surround-sound party trick and new paint colors carry the launch in the meantime.
A $50 price increase for AI you can't use yet is a bet that customers will wait for Siri to catch up to the silicon.