I think it is still a good gifting option. Products like HomePod are not frequently updated by Apple. Giving a gift card will definitely allow for the recipients to buy whatever they like but HomePod is still a good one to gift. Also expecting Apple to continue selling it even after the new Home hub is released next year.
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Is the HomePod Mini a Good Gift Still? Here's What to Consider
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Yeah... the solution is to turn off "Automatically adjust Siri volume". When turned on it should adjust to the noise level in the room, but in practice it "remembers" the noise level from the last time Siri was used and not the current noise level. So when I use my kitchen HomePod during cooking (lots of noise), the next morning it will shout the first response regardless if the room is quiet. So I turned this option off.
Next I've setup a few HomeKit rules that fire on certain times during the day to set the HomePod volume to an appropriate level (Siri voice level follows this). This prevents Siri from shouting in the morning and also turns down load music from the rooms of our kids in the evening.
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I personally love my HomePods, but as with all Apple products, they are all hated and ridiculed by the majority of people on forums.
I have eight original HomePods and three Google Home Hubs. When the HomePods work as intended, they’re fantastic for music. However, I’ve pretty much given up on Apple and Siri for answering questions—they’re so far behind Google Assistant that I don’t even bother with Siri anymore. 🤷♂️
I was going to buy a sound bar however does anyone here recoiled using two of them in replacing this idea?
Read that article directly from Apple's own support website, Not Just the headline!
The instructions applies BOTH Homepods AND Homepod Mini models.
Create a stereo pair
You can create a stereo pair with two HomePod mini, two HomePod (1st generation), or two HomePod (2nd generation) speakers.
To create a stereo pair, both HomePod speakers need to be assigned to the same room.
- Go to the Home app
on your iPhone or iPad.
- Tap a HomePod, then tap .
- Tap Create Stereo Pair and follow the onscreen instructions.
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It doesn`t work that way. They can and will charge whatever they believe people will pay for it and make as many they need to balance it.
Clearly, sometimes there are disruptions having consequences, but if there is an indication of a persistent lower demand, they just cut back the supply to keep the market in balance. They keep an good eye on the competition, thus when the competition arrives with a product having an impact on sales, they drop it, or introduce a new iteration which is more or less always in the pipeline.
If you look at M Macs, they are still ramping up specs and so on, until they get where they want, but with the M4`s I believe they are pretty close to where they want to be with those released. The base Mini M4 is the machine which triggers replacement of M1 Minis, and it is now on a level where it becomes a real option for Microsoft budget desktop users. Actually they have been since M1, but M4 conquer minds where M1 was merely a threat.
What they have released of M4`s is competitive (Neural and single core performance) and Apple supplies the number of graphics cores they deem useful to make them attractive enough.
But they haven`t really had a go at graphics yet. Not to the extent they will. You might argue that M4 Base/Pro/Max with added performance CPU cores now are consolidated where they want it to be, and now they will do the same with Ultra/Extreme or whatever they will call them. And they will add some punch to the graphics of those. Might be they will do it in one go with M4`s or they will release the full potential in the next gen Ultra/Extreme levels.
That done, they will still develop the cores, but also be in a position where they decide when they want to add more performance to stay competitive.
And that brings the Macs to the point where they can do the stuff I was talking about in the first paragraphs. Whenever demand drops anywhere, they have something in the pipeline to replace the hardware which drops. They won`t cut the rrp with 30-50% for a Mini for a long periods, they will provide discounts to get rid of the few they have left when the replacement is ready to be dropped into the market.
Look at which Macs they are discounting now, at Black Friday. 8gb MB Airs mainly. Not a great bargain if you ask me, 8gb is sufficient today, but these will slow down when apps and OS takes full advantage of AI.
Ha ok. They are in a pair, and it sure sounds like stereo to me. Maybe you’re talking about something else, but I’m using them as Apple TV speakers in a pair, and they are definitely the Minis.
It's pretty useless unless you need a HomeKit Hub. Then it's your cheapest option.
Is a good product in terms of design, but a complete mess in rest, connectivity doesnt work ever, siri is a mess, cord is too short and volume is low.
At $99 in the U.S., the HomePod mini is a more affordable gift option for Apple enthusiasts. However, the speaker was released just over four years ago, so you may be wondering if it is still worth purchasing or if you should hold off.
Below, we outline three things to take into consideration.
First, there have been rumors about a HomePod mini 2, but none of them are recent.
The firmest rumor came from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Back in February 2023, he said mass shipments of a new HomePod mini would begin in the second half of 2024. However, heading into the final month of the year, it is unclear if that production has actually started or if it will soon. There has been no talk about a HomePod mini 2 being imminent, so a launch seems unlikely until 2025 at the earliest, barring a surprise announcement.
Kuo did not reveal any new features planned for the next HomePod mini, but potential upgrades could include a newer chip for improved audio, a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip for a lower-latency Handoff experience, and new color options. The current HomePod mini is equipped with an S5 chip and a U1 chip.
While the HomePod mini has received no major hardware upgrades since it was released in November 2020, Apple has refreshed its color options a few times. The speaker was released in Blue, Orange, and Yellow in November 2021, and Space Gray was replaced with a virtually-identical Midnight finish in July of this year.
The second thing to take into consideration is that Apple reportedly plans to release an all-new smart home hub as early as March 2025. The hub is expected to feature around a 6-inch display that can be attached to a tabletop base with a speaker, so the device could essentially be a more useful alternative to the HomePod mini. It has been predicted that the hub could be priced in the $199 to $299 range, so an Apple gift card that someone could use towards that device next year is another idea to consider.
Third, Siri is widely considered to be an inferior digital assistant compared to the likes of Amazon's Alexa and Google's Assistant. It's something to keep in mind depending on how much your giftee plans to use voice commands.
If you do go ahead with gifting a HomePod mini this year, that is a fine choice too. The speaker is a bit outdated now, but it remains an adequate speaker for its price, and it will continue to serve its purpose for several years.
Article Link: Is the HomePod Mini a Good Gift Still? Here's What to Consider
Fairly sure it does what it’s suppose.. not sure how you determine that’s useless