Spot the Difference: The HomePod mini Gets a ‘New’ Color
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In what may be one of its most pointless press releases in recent memory, Apple has just announced that the HomePod mini is now available in a “new” color: midnight.
That might sound exciting at first glance — until it clicks that the diminutive smart speaker has been available in “space gray” since it was first released in 2020.
In fact, the original HomePod mini was solely available in space gray and white at launch. It wasn’t until the following year that Apple gave the small speaker a splash of color, adding yellow, orange, and blue to the mix. However, the original shades of black and white remained unchanged in the lineup.
Those changes were also only skin-deep; the more colorful HomePods didn’t add anything new inside, although later HomePod Software updates did activate internal temperature and humidity sensors that had previously been dormant.
Today’s new midnight HomePod mini brings even fewer changes since you’ll likely have difficulty telling the difference between space gray and midnight. It’s nearly impossible to tell from the press photos, but perhaps the actual speaker will follow Apple’s other midnight-colored products and get a bit darker.
However, that’s trickier to do with the mesh fabric speaker grille, which might be why “midnight” still looks suspiciously like “space gray,” at least to our eyes. Traditionally, Apple’s midnight has a slightly dark bluish hue compared to its grays and blacks, but it’s incredibly subtle, so we won’t blame you if you can’t see it.
Nevertheless, this change does align the HomePod mini with Apple’s more modern color spectrum, including its larger sibling, the second-generation HomePod, which was released in midnight and white in early 2023.
Apple introduced midnight and starlight in 2021 as alternatives to its previous black, space gray, white, and silver colors. That year, they adorned the Apple Watch Series 7, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, and iPad mini.
Those were added to Apple’s redesigned M2 MacBook Air family in early 2022 and remained the neutral shades for the Apple Watch Series 8 and standard iPhone 14 models that year. However, they were dropped for the iPhone 15 lineup, which went back to basic black and a very light shade of blue that borders on white.
Instead of continuing the midnight theme, Apple introduced a new space black with its M3 MacBook Pro lineup — a rather appropriate choice for Scary Fast, the company’s first-ever evening event held last fall. In March, the M3 MacBook Air continued the midnight/starlight theme; however, the M2 iPad Air stuck with only starlight and space gray, while the M4 iPad Pro inherited the same space black finish as the higher-end MacBooks.
So, the HomePod mini now matches the full-size HomePod, but they only share that new shade with the M3 MacBook Air and Apple Watch Series 9. However, unlike those devices, there’s no starlight to accompany it; the white HomePod and HomePod mini remain simply “white.”
Apple did use the opportunity to point out that the new midnight HomePod mini is now “made with 100 percent recycled mesh fabric.” That seems to apply only to the midnight HomePod mini, so perhaps some new dye process is involved that doesn’t work with the other colors, which likely remain at only 90% recycled materials. For those who are eager to get their hands on a midnight HomePod mini, they’ll be appearing in Apple Stores on Wednesday, July 17.
This could be one of the most inconsequential refreshes to an Apple product in the history of Apple products. Beyond the new fabric, the HomePod mini has no other changes, which is disappointing for a speaker that’s been on the market for more than four years and is arguably overdue for a refresh — especially now that we’re on the cusp of Apple Intelligence becoming a thing.
