If you’re an Apple fan and you've been eyeing up its Siri-powered smart speakers, then you won’t beat this Black Friday deal. For just £84.15 at O2, you can pick up the superb Apple HomePod Mini in either white or space grey – though only until December 12, while stocks last. That's a near-£15 saving on its usual £99 full retail price – that's not much, but any money off a HomePod is welcome news. If you’re after a different colourway, then for £94 at John Lewis or Argos, you can pick up the blue, orange, or yellow finishes.
The HomePod Mini is a smaller, more affordable version of the HomePod, and its follow-up, the HomePod 2. While the HomePod 2 and HomePod Mini have both earned What Hi-Fi? Awards for 2024, you may be wondering which one to choose. Well, we’ve got a guide to Apple HomePod 2 vs HomePod Mini outlining all the key differences that will suit your needs. If it comes down to price though, you won’t find a better deal than the one for the HomePod Mini currently at O2.
We were pleasantly surprised by the Apple HomePod Mini when we first reviewed it. Not only is it tiny and mighty at just 8.4cm tall, it also boasts superb sound. And, even at its usual price, it’s a competitive choice against alternatives in the smart speaker market, like Sonos’s Era 100.
Feature-wise, it’s a mesh-covered sphere of impressive sound, connected to Siri which lights up the clear screen on top. The Apple-designed full-range driver is in charge of firing sound downwards and out of the 360-degree waveguide around the bottom. It also supports spatial audio and 24-bit hi-res lossless streams from Apple Music.
Four microphones are built-in, with three dedicated to listening to Siri commands and one using echolocation to allow your voice to be heard of music and background noise. Naturally, the HomePod Mini works best in an iOS ecosystem, and an Apple Music subscription will work best with Siri commands. Over a short period of time, we found that the Mini will learn your music preferences, as well as offer clever variations if you ask for something different.
In our review, we stated: “From the moment we start playing music, it’s clear that the HomePod Mini comfortably outperforms its size and price. It goes much louder than expected – even 75 per cent volume is louder than we imagine most people will regularly want to go in an average-sized living room. But, no matter how much you push it, the HomePod Mini never shows any sign of strain. It’s clean and composed at all volumes.”
It’s an incredibly affordable offering in the smart speaker market, and a startling one from Apple given their usual price range. The HomePod Mini is one of their cheapest products ever, made even more appealing by this impressive Black Friday deal from O2.
