What we know about Apple’s rumored HomePod mini

The HomePod mini should be a better and smaller version of the HomePod — here's the rumors and facts we know about it now.

With Apple's October iPhone 12 event just around the corner, the HomePod mini is rumored to be just days away, but what do we know about the rumored successor to Apple's original smart speaker? Not heaps, but enough to get us excited for what Apple might have in store!

Release date

Apple is expected to unveil the HomePod mini at its 'Hi, Speed' event on October 13. The most recent reports suggest Apple will schedule the HomePod mini for pre-orders starting on November 6, and that the device will be released on November 16 "in most places."

Price

The HomePod was priced relatively expensively when it was first introduced. But reports that Apple would release a cheaper follow-up have persisted for some time.

The most recent rumors suggest that Apple's HomePod mini will cost just $99.

Size

According to a recent leak from Kang, a very accurate Apple leaker, the HomePod mini is a 3.3-inch speaker. Now, this could indicate an incredibly small form factor, or a small speaker housed inside a larger frame. Remember, Apple's current HomePod is several speakers housed inside a single unit.

Processor

The HomePod mini will reportedly run on Apple's S5 processor, formerly the brain of the Apple Watch Series 5.

Ultra-Wide Band

According to Jon Prosser, the HomePod mini will be a "very important" product from Apple, because it's a UWB hub in disguise. Prosser says that the HomePod mini will serve as a UWB hub thanks to Apple's U1 chip, interacting with other UWB Apple devices like iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods. UWB will enable very accurate location tracking and super-fast data transfer.

Face ID

Sounds a little crazy, but rumors suggest that the HomePod mini could have Face ID. With the right sensors on top of the speaker, the HomePod could identify who's using the HomePod by allowing you to look down at it.

Right now, multiuser works via voice recognition, but the inclusion of FaceID could allow for a more stringent multiple user experience.

Hand gestures

Along with the Face ID, the Homepod mini could support hand gesture control, allowing users to wave their hands over the HomePod mini to control playback.

As of right now, the only playback control the HomePod has on the device itself is touch-based controls.

Stereo sound anywhere in the room

By all indications, the HomePod mini should sound better than its predecessor, and there was a patent granted to Apple for a "multi-listener stereo image array".

The patent itself is full of technical jargon, but if you break it down, the idea is simple. Through the use of specific drivers and sound processing, this "multi-listener stereo image array" would allow multiple people listening in the same room to hear both the left and right channels equally, no matter where they are in the room.

While patents don't always pan out into future products or features, other major audio companies have been looking into technology like this for a while. The HomePod mini may come with some sort of advanced stereo processing to allow some version of what this patent is describing.

Are you excited about the HomePod mini?

Lets us know in the comments below.