Apple Unveils New Homepod Mini, Siri-Based Music Subscription

<div class&equals;"pagebody-copy"><span class&equals;"pagebody-location"><strong>CUPERTINO<&sol;strong> &&num;8212&semi; At a pre-taped keynote presentation&comma; <&sol;span>Apple today introduced HomePod mini in three bold new colors — yellow&comma; orange&comma; and blue&period; At just 3&period;3 inches tall&comma; HomePod mini offers a great music-listening experience&comma; the intelligence of Siri&comma; and smart home capabilities&comma; with privacy and security built in&period; Its seamless integration across Apple’s products and services make HomePod mini the ultimate smart speaker for anyone with an Apple device&period; HomePod mini will be available in these new colors&comma; along with white and space gray&comma; with color-matched details throughout&comma; including the tinted touch surface&comma; mesh fabric&comma; volume icons&comma; and woven power cable&comma; starting in November for just &dollar;99&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Apple also announced a voice-based Apple Music subscription for just &dollar;4&period;99 per month that is targeted toward HomePod users&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;HomePod mini sounds incredible&comma; and with access to more than 90 million songs in the global Apple Music catalog and deep integration with your Apple devices&comma; it’s the must-have smart speaker for iPhone users&comma;” said Bob Borchers&comma; Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;With new vibrant colors&comma; HomePod mini fits in even more places and delivers amazing sound&comma; the power of Siri&comma; and simple and secure smart home controls&comma; all while protecting your privacy&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>HomePod mini uses computational audio to provide a rich and detailed acoustic experience and deliver peak performance&period; To achieve big sound out of such a compact design&comma; the Apple S5 chip runs advanced software to analyze the unique characteristics of the music&period; It also applies complex tuning models to optimize loudness&comma; adjust the dynamic range&comma; and control the movement of the driver and passive radiators&comma; all in real time&period; HomePod mini’s full-range driver&comma; premium neodymium magnet&comma; and pair of force-cancelling passive radiators enable it to produce deep bass and crisp high frequencies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>HomePod mini is designed to work with Apple Music&comma; Apple Podcasts&comma; thousands of radio stations including the award-winning Apple Music 1 station&comma; and popular music services like Pandora&comma; Deezer&comma; and others<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The company also introduced the Apple Music Voice Plan&comma; a new subscription tier for Apple Music designed around the power of Siri&period; The Apple Music Voice Plan offers subscribers access to the service’s catalog of 90 million songs&semi; tens of thousands of playlists&comma; including hundreds of brand new mood and activity playlists&comma; personalized mixes&comma; and genre stations&semi; as well as Apple Music Radio — all through Siri for just &dollar;4&period;99 per month&period; A regular Apple Music subscription is &dollar;9&period;99 per month&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>With the intelligence of Siri&comma; HomePod mini delivers a personalized and deeply integrated experience for iPhone customers&period; Siri can recognize the voices of up to six different household members&comma; tailor music and podcasts to their preferences&comma; and respond to personal requests&comma; like reading their messages&comma; reminders&comma; notes&comma; and calendar appointments&comma; or making and answering phone calls&period; Siri also provides users a personal update for a quick snapshot of their day&period; Users can ask &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Hey Siri&comma; what’s my update&quest;” to hear the latest news&comma; weather&comma; traffic&comma; reminders&comma; and calendar appointments with a single request&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Apple Music Voice Plan will be available later this fall in 17 countries and regions&comma; including Australia&comma; Austria&comma; Canada&comma; China&comma; France&comma; Germany&comma; Hong Kong&comma; India&comma; Ireland&comma; Italy&comma; Japan&comma; Mexico&comma; New Zealand&comma; Spain&comma; Taiwan&comma; the United Kingdom&comma; and the United States&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;