Oliver Haslam on October 10, 2020, 12:14 am

Apple Could Launch HomePod mini Next Month Priced At $99

Apple will announce a new, smaller HomePod as soon as next week according to a previously reliable leaker. Kang, posting to Chinese social network Weibo, says that the HomePod mini won’t go on sale until November 16, however.

In a Weibo post that outlined Apple’s launch plans for the next few weeks, Kang said that the new product will be priced at just $99 and be around 3.3 inches tall.

That’s less than half the height of the current HomePod which comes in at 6.8 inches.

Interestingly, Kang also says that the new, smaller speaker will be powered by Apple’s S5 processor. That’s the same chip that Apple put in the recently announced Apple Watch SE and was used in the Apple Watch Series 5 last year.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, has also previously said that the new speaker will make use of just two tweeters rather than the seven that are used in the current HomePod. That will of course drive down the cost of the speaker, but it would also likely be difficult to fit that many into something so small anyway.

Apple’s October 13 event will see four new iPhones be announced as well as untold other products. We’ve been told not to expect the rumored AirPods Studio, however, with those set to be shown for the first time alongside the first Apple silicon Macs next month.