Apple’s HomePod mini 2 is now on sale. The compact smart speaker, announced on October 13, 2026, reached stores on October 30 priced at $149 in the United States, $20 more than the original HomePod mini’s recent $129 price. It is the first of Apple’s three new home devices to go on sale: the HomeView display hub and the fourth-generation Apple TV 4K, both priced at $299, follow on November 13.
For Apple households, the mini 2 matters less as a speaker upgrade and more as a hub upgrade. It keeps the original’s small spherical design and adds a faster chip, newer wireless radios, and a glowing top surface, while continuing to serve as a HomeKit home hub with Thread and Matter support. Here is what you actually get on day one, what is still to come, and whether it is worth buying.
Price, colors, and availability
HomePod mini 2 costs $149 in the US, £149 in the UK, and €169 in Germany. Pre-orders opened on announcement day, October 13, and retail availability began October 30. Apple lists five colors: White, Pink, Blue, Green, and Midnight. The box includes the speaker, a power cable, and a 20W USB-C power adapter, and the speaker ships running HomePod software 27.2.
The price is a step up from the original. The first HomePod mini launched in 2020 at $99, and its price had most recently sat at $129, so the new model is $20 more than the outgoing version and $50 above the original launch price. Apple’s US store now lists only HomePod mini 2, though remaining retail stock of the original may still be available elsewhere.
What is new inside
The design is deliberately familiar: the mini 2 keeps the same compact spherical shape, measuring 3.3 inches tall by 3.9 inches wide, with a full-range driver and dual force-cancelling passive radiators for 360-degree sound. The changes are under the surface and in the radios.
- Apple S10 chip: the new processor powers the speaker’s audio and smart home duties.
- Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 6: newer wireless standards than the original’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios.
- Thread and Ultra Wideband: Thread connects compatible Matter and HomeKit accessories directly, while Ultra Wideband supports proximity features such as handing off audio from an iPhone.
- Sound Glow: a new glowing lighting effect on the speaker’s top surface, which also arrived on older HomePod models through the HomePod 27.2 software update.
As a home hub, the mini 2 controls compatible lights, locks, thermostats, blinds, and other accessories through the Home app, runs scenes and automations, and supports Intercom, stereo pairing, and multiroom audio. Built-in temperature and humidity sensors let it feed climate automations, with Apple describing an indoor sensing range of roughly 15 to 30 degrees Celsius and 30 to 70 percent relative humidity. It also supports Sound Recognition, which can listen for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and send an alert.
The one big feature that is not here yet: Siri AI
The headline caveat is that Siri AI is not on HomePod mini 2 at launch. Apple says the reworked Siri will arrive later through a free software update, and it has not given a date for the HomePod release. Initial availability is expected to be limited to English in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Africa, with timing for the European Union still unknown.
That matters for buying decisions. If the smarter Siri is the reason you want the speaker, there is nothing to try yet, and the current Siri experience is essentially the one you already know. Buy the mini 2 for what it does today, not for an assistant update with no confirmed date.
What it means for your Matter and Thread setup
HomePod mini 2 works as an Apple home hub, so it can run Matter-over-Thread accessories such as locks, sensors, and plugs in Apple Home without a separate Thread border router. That makes it the least expensive new Apple device that can fill the Thread hub role, and the cheapest current Apple route to a Thread hub if your only existing hub is a 64 GB Apple TV model without a Thread radio.
At the same time, none of Apple’s three new home announcements describes a new Matter capability that requires the new hardware. If you already have a working original HomePod mini, a second-generation HomePod, or a Thread-equipped Apple TV 4K, your hub job is already covered. The mini 2 is a replacement or an additional room’s hub, not a requirement for keeping a Matter home running.
It also slots into the wider Apple home lineup announced alongside it. The Apple Home Collection of first-party accessories, including a smart deadbolt lock, thermostat, video doorbell, and cameras developed with LG, is due to start arriving in December 2026, with selected products following in early 2027. The mini 2, HomeView, and the new Apple TV 4K all share Thread and Matter support, so whichever hub you pick, the accessories speak the same standards.
Should you buy one?
HomePod mini 2 makes the most sense in three situations. First, if you are starting an Apple-based smart home and need a first hub, $149 buys a speaker, a Thread border router, and a temperature and humidity sensor in one small device. Second, if your current setup lacks a Thread hub, it is the cheapest way to add one from Apple’s current lineup. Third, if you want a second speaker for stereo pairing, multiroom audio, or another room, the new colors and Wi-Fi 6E support are genuine, if modest, improvements.
It makes less sense as an upgrade from a working original HomePod mini. The sound hardware is fundamentally the same, the design is unchanged, and the smarter Siri has not arrived yet. In that case, the sensible move is to wait: either for the Siri AI update to land and prove itself, or for a discount that narrows the $20 gap over the outgoing model.
Either way, October 30 marks the moment Apple’s new home strategy becomes something you can actually buy, rather than a presentation. The speaker is the affordable entry point; the real test comes on November 13, when HomeView and the new Apple TV 4K arrive, and later still, when Siri AI finally shows up on the speaker.