The HomePod mini is now irrelevant — here’s why

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By letting Apple Music on Alexa and Google smart speakers, Apple is sabotaging its HomePod and HomePod Mini

The HomePod mini is now irrelevant — here’s why
(Image credit: Apple)

This past week, Apple provided yet one more reason not to get its smart speakers. That’s because now you can stream Apple Music not only through Alexa speakers, but Nest speakers as well. Unless you’re really wedded to Apple’s ecosystem or smart home platform, there’s no reason to buy a HomePod or the new HomePod mini.

Don’t get me wrong — Apple’s HomePod and HomePod mini sound great, but neither would be my first choice for a smart speaker. That’s because a smart speaker’s value is half audio quality and half smarts, and Apple’s products are lacking in the latter. 

Let’s start with choice. With Apple, you’re limited to just two devices: The $99 HomePod Mini and the $299 HomePod. Amazon, by contrast, has the new Echo Dot ($50), the Echo Dot with Clock, the Echo Show 5 ($45), the Echo Show 8 ($79), the Echo ($99), the Echo Show ($149) and the new Echo Show 10 ($249) — not to mention the Echo Auto, the 3rd-generation Echo Dot, and Echo Flex.

Apple HomePod mini (Image credit: Future)

While not as numerous, Google also has more options than Apple as well, including the Nest Mini ($50), the Nest Audio ($99), Nest Hub ($89), Nest Hub Max ($229), and the Google Home Max ($179). 

My go-to smart speaker is the $149 Sonos One, which has proven to be the best when it comes to audio (and which can be used with either Alexa or Google Assistant). 

Sonos One (Image credit: Sonos)

Next, there’s streaming music services. On a HomePod or HomePod mini, you can choose from Apple Music, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and Pandora, but that’s it. Alexa and Google/Nest smart speakers don’t offer a lot more, but they both have Spotify. And the Sonos One has hundreds of services. 

Apple HomePod (Image credit: Apple)

Then we have smart home smarts. Here, Apple’s smart speakers have an advantage over Google in that you can create more sophisticated smart home routines, but fall short of Alexa in terms of how you can control your smart home gadgets, such as lights and locks. 

After that, though, the HomePod’s skills fall behind the others. When it launched the HomePod mini, Apple touted its intercom feature, which lets you broadcast a message to other HomePods or Apple devices. However, all you’re doing is sending a pre-recorded message. Alexa and Google devices, by comparison, let you have full-fledged conversations. 

Apple HomePod mini (Image credit: Apple)

Both Google and Amazon have far more robust parental controls, too. Although I’m loath to give my child a smart speaker in her room, if I were, I’d have much greater control over what she listens to if it were an Alexa speaker.

Perhaps the only unique feature of the HomePod and HomePod Mini is that you can start playing music on your phone, and then simply tap your phone on the speaker to transfer the music. It’s a cool feature, but it’s one I’ve rarely used. It’s far easier to just tell Siri to start playing something rather than walking across a room.

The fact that Apple is allowing its music streaming service on other devices is perhaps a tacit admission that it’s not going to dominate the smart speaker market the way it has with smartphones and tablets. But the company has now given away the best reason to buy a HomePod or HomePod Mini to the competition.

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Mike Prospero
Mike Prospero
U.S. Editor-in-Chief, Tom's Guide

Michael A. Prospero is the U.S. Editor-in-Chief for Tom’s Guide. He oversees all evergreen content and oversees the Homes, Smart Home, and Fitness/Wearables categories for the site. In his spare time, he also tests out the latest drones, electric scooters, and smart home gadgets, such as video doorbells. Before his tenure at Tom's Guide, he was the Reviews Editor for Laptop Magazine, a reporter at Fast Company, the Times of Trenton, and, many eons back, an intern at George magazine. He received his undergraduate degree from Boston College, where he worked on the campus newspaper The Heights, and then attended the Columbia University school of Journalism. When he’s not testing out the latest running watch, electric scooter, or skiing or training for a marathon, he’s probably using the latest sous vide machine, smoker, or pizza oven, to the delight — or chagrin — of his family.

2 Comments Comment from the forums
  • rshanley
    Hey Mike;

    Sorry.. I can’t agree.. You are missing one very critical aspect of the home speakers.. the only home speaker that provides the privacy/security necessary to have a place in my home is the Apple HomePod. Only HomePod and Siri provide smart speaker functionality without sending everything they hear across the internet for interpretation in the cloud. HomePod listens for “Hey Siri” and won’t send anything it hears prior to invoking Siri with the phrase. When you think of all the conversations that go on in an average home, I can’t think of anything more private. So.. I will stick with HomePod and Siri thank you! Given that HomePod mini is currently unavailable either by mail order or in the Apple stores and back ordered until the new year, I think I may have some company in that view.

    Ray
    Reply
  • mejustsayin
    I am an alexa user and also have google home devices. Just because they play apple music does not make the Homepods irrelevant. There are way too many apple fans that will keep this from happening. Apple just need to keep on updating and adding features.
    Reply