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HomePod Mini Likely to Launch in These Four Countries Next

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Apple is likely to launch the HomePod mini in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden in the foreseeable future based on Siri language support.

homepod-mini-thumb-feature.jpg

In recent software updates, the HomePod and HomePod mini gained support for Siri in Swedish, Norwegian, and Finnish. Danish is still not supported on HomePods, but a report earlier this year indicated that the language was being tested.

First released in October 2020, the HomePod mini is currently available in 20 countries and territories, including the United States, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.

Apple made the HomePod mini available in yellow, orange, and blue last year, alongside space gray and white. In August, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman claimed that Apple was considering launching an updated version of the $99 smart speaker in the future, but he did not provide a specific timeframe or details about potential new features.

Apple discontinued the full-size HomePod in March 2021.

Article Link: HomePod Mini Likely to Launch in These Four Countries Next
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/10/13/homepod-mini-next-launch-countries/
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Reactions: ApostolisApo
For two things I 've been waiting for too long now:

1. Release in Sweden
2. Spotify finds the time and will to add their service natively...
 
What's up with the super slow release of additional language support for Siri? I get the smaller markets/less revenue taking less priority at Apple but one would think a 40 million population would be somewhere higher on the list?
 
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Reactions: vitordill
I bought one of these a few years ago. All I wanted was to play audiobooks from my iPhone. It really really didn't want to do that. It kept switching over to play stuff from the music app, despite the fact I hadn't used the music app forever.
 
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I have never even tried using Siri once in English although I have had at least one Apple product since 1998. But to see something offered in Finland....what is going on? It is getting colder here but hell has not frozen over.
 
zubikov said:
The sound quality is really sub-bar. I know the small form-factor is cool, but please do better Apple.
Click to expand...
How does it compare to the sound from a MacBook Air M1 2020? My home office is small so it may be OK for music.
 
My Zenith transistor radio from the 1960's sounded better than the Apple Mini..... maybe I need hearing aids....
However! My Apple HomePods are awesome.

If you don't have a spouse/room-mate to argue with, the Mini and Siri is the perfect replacement.
 
Edsel said:
My Zenith transistor radio from the 1960's sounded better than the Apple Mini..... maybe I need hearing aids....
However! My Apple HomePods are awesome.

If you don't have a spouse/room-mate to argue with, the Mini and Siri is the perfect replacement.
Click to expand...
Ha..good one. Or if you do have a spouse Siri may be the perfect buffer to divert some of the venom coming from the spouse ;)
 
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Reactions: Edsel
It's ridiculous that they have to wait for Siri support to start selling a speaker in a given country.

If only they offered a "dumb" speaker that I could just AirPlay to...that's all I use it for anyway.
 
Hope we see it soon. Been using my HomePod and minis daily for a long time and would never have thought it would take Apple this long to release it in Denmark. The problem at the moment is, that I have to have all my Apple products on English or else I can’t use the HomePods…. But then I can’t use Siri to text people in Danish. Small but annoying problem. Would be nice to have the HomeKit commands in Danish too, so the rest of the family used it more.
 
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Expos of 1969 said:
How does it compare to the sound from a MacBook Air M1 2020? My home office is small so it may be OK for music.
Click to expand...

The mini lacks lows, the mids are less punchy. It's not able to fill the room with sound as well as the regular HomePod.

I have a mini in a dining room, and a regular homepod in a kitchen right next to it. I'm reminded almost on a daily basis of just how much better the regular homepod sounds. The original homepod was a fantastic speaker, it still blows my mind that Apple decommissioned it. The only reason I can think of is that other vendors were complaining that their inferior speakers that cost more were getting outpriced by Apple.
 
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zubikov said:
The mini lacks lows, the mids are less punchy. It's not able to fill the room with sound as well as the regular HomePod.

I have a mini in a dining room, and a regular homepod in a kitchen right next to it. I'm reminded almost on a daily basis of just how much better the regular homepod sounds. The original homepod was a fantastic speaker, it still blows my mind that Apple decommissioned it. The only reason I can think of is that other vendors were complaining that their inferior speakers that cost more were getting outpriced by Apple.
Click to expand...
Zero chance Apple will catch up to the likes of Sonos or others when it comes to speakers. They realized that and as such, made a high quality speaker for their Mac’s, enhancement for the TV speakers. They defined their limited niche market for speakers. Nice speaker from IKEA that was designed by IKEA with Sonos internals. Has changeable art work Grills. Call innovation. Best I would hope for from Apple, a marginally larger HomePod.
 

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MMonberg said:
Hope we see it soon. Been using my HomePod and minis daily for a long time and would never have thought it would take Apple this long to release it in Denmark. The problem at the moment is, that I have to have all my Apple products on English or else I can’t use the HomePods…. But then I can’t use Siri to text people in Danish. Small but annoying problem. Would be nice to have the HomeKit commands in Danish too, so the rest of the family used it more.
Click to expand...
Same. Funny thing is, I can dictate anything in Polish and it works flawlessly. How the hell does it differ from Siri voice recognition? What is going on here?
 
As an owner of a big boy Homepod and a Mini I would say in all honesty that the Mini is a terrible product. As a smart speaker Siri is as dumb as ever and sound quality is hollow and devoid of bass. It's better than listening to something through your Phone's speakers, but this isn't a real speaker by any stretch of the imagination.

Worse, it suffers from terribly weak wifi and like the big Homepod it must be able to communicate with your iPhone for much of its tasks. The big Homepod manages this fine, but the Mini would continually drop the connection and error out saying it had no internet connection. (which was a lie, as it could still play Apple Music without issue). I talked to Apple techs about this and had it replaced, I tried it in different rooms, I even coincidentally changed ISP and router but it never worked well. And I live in a tiny UK house with walls about 5 microns thick.

So it now lives in a cupboard turned off. I replaced it with a Google Home Mini which actually has the smarts and doesn't drop its internet connection. As a speaker it's about as useful as banging a tin can with a stick, but as a kitchen device for queries, timers and food information it works.
 
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adamlbiscuit said:
It sounds better than the MacBook speakers - more bass, richer sound. But I would recommend getting a stereo pair. On their own the HomePod minis sound ok, but in stereo they sound quite good to my ear.
Click to expand...

This is the right answer and I think the way Apple intends it to be used for music. Of course it would sound even better if the speakers were better, but they're not nearly as awful as people seem to make them out to be.
 
How hard can it be to release a HomeKit hub with touch screen ??? They’ve been sitting on this for 5+ years.
 
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