Does it Come in Midnight?
Big news out of Apple on a random Monday in July:
Today, Apple introduced HomePod mini in midnight, made with 100 percent recycled mesh fabric. At just 3.3 inches tall, HomePod mini offers big sound in an impressively compact design. With a seamless, acoustically transparent mesh exterior and a backlit touch surface that illuminates from edge to edge, HomePod mini is a stunning smart speaker that complements any space. HomePod mini in midnight is available starting Wednesday, July 17, and joins other bold colors, including yellow, orange, blue, and white.
Reading this, you'd think Apple just released a new HomePod mini, but read it again. "Introduced" makes it seem like a new product release and, I mean, I guess – the key is "in midnight". In other words, this is a new color release. But wait, didn't the HomePod mini already come in black? Well yes and no. It previously came in "space gray" which is an Apple marketing way of saying "black". That has been replaced by "midnight" which is a newer Apple marketing way of saying "black". This reads like a joke – it's basically the same shirt gift meme – but it's not!
So why on Earth did Apple swap one black for the other black? Perhaps it's as simple as unifying their HomePod line-up around the same "black" color (since the larger HomePod is available in "midnight"). But still, why now? I like John Gruber's theory:
Makes me wonder if Apple produced a bunch of space gray HomePod Minis all at once, when the product debuted, and has been waiting for them to sell out before switching to midnight.
If true, that would be not great news for Apple considering the HomePod mini was released in November 2020 – almost four years ago. The HomePod is a product line that Apple already had to discontinue once – before they oddly brought it back without many changes, at least outwardly. The HomePod mini seemed like a better deal at $99, but at the end of the day, it's still powered by Siri, which is still not great. And maybe "New Siri" will be a lot better – maybe – but "she's" not coming to these devices. At least not with full 'Apple Intelligence' power.
So yeah, this is all sorts of weird. Apple just released a new color of a product which is nearly four years old but really it's basically the same as a previous color, just with an updated marketing name. This new version has no other updates and certainly won't be able to run the next iteration of Siri, which Apple just got done touting a few weeks ago (though "she" won't be available until next year).
Why is Apple trumpeting this via a press release? They probably should have just quietly done this color swap? This would all seem to suggest that the HomePod mini lineup isn't going to be refreshed anytime soon, though the larger HomePod might?
