Immersive Home Theatre Experience

According to Jim Dalrymple of The Loop, the larger HomePod will actually still be gaining at least one feature that won’t be supported on the HomePod mini, which will allow for 5.1, 7,1 and Dolby Atmos surround sound when paired with an Apple TV.

Since the HomePod mini doesn’t have the spatial audio support of the mainstream HomePod, it’s simply not possible for Apple to offer this on the smaller speakers; although you’ll still be able to pair two HomePod minis to your Apple TV, you won’t be able to take advantage of the new home theatre experience unless you’re using a full-sized HomePod.

With this update, it will also be possible to set the Apple TV to use your HomePods or HomePod minis as default speakers. Up until now, you’ve had to switch over to them manually.

Note that in the same way you can’t mix a HomePod and HomePod mini in a stereo pair, you also won’t be able to connect both models to the same Apple TV at the same time.