Mr Temple, you're conflating two products into one.
The Google Home Mini and the Google Nest Mini are two separate products but with the same physical design. But the Google Home Mini was announced October 4, 2017 and released October 19, 2017. The Google Nest Mini was unveiled October 15, 2019 and launched October 22, 2019.
I'm well aware of what I quoted.
What I am saying is the original Apple Homepod (which is a totally different category of large form factor speaker) and the Google Home Mini released so close together that neither inspired the other. The Google Home Mini would have been on the assembly line by the time Apple unveiled their Homepod design. But the Apple Homepod Mini, which came out years after the Google Home Mini, was clearly inspired by Google's original small form factor design.
Which brings us to the very latest announcement of the new Google Home speaker launching early next year. This design is a direct descendant of the small form factor woven look of the original Google Home Mini from October 2017 - not the Apple Homepod Mini that came out years after in 2020.
Side note: and it was the original Google Home from 2016 that incorporated a woven fabric look into the base. This preceded the original Apple Homepod.