HomePod mini gets new colours and a half-price Apple Music option

Apple's smallest smart speaker will be moving past its monochromatic emo years with three new colour options set to launch in November: yellow, orange, and blue. The HomePod mini's touch surface, volume icons, and power cable will all match the colour of the fabric mesh, and you'll still pay $149.

While new HomePod mini colours are just that, Apple is also launching a stripped down version of Apple Music that seems explicitly designed for its smart speakers. Dubbed Apple Music Voice, the plan gets you access to the entire Apple Music library and Apple Music Radio with one catch: you can only access it through Siri. You can't just open the app and pick a song, you have to explicitly ask Apple's digital assistant.

While Apple Music Voice is a natural fit for HomePod mini, it also works with any Siri-enabled device - which is pretty much everything Apple sells.

While the full version of Apple Music starts at $11.99 per month for a standard subscription, Apple Music Voice comes in at just $5.99. A one-time seven-day free trial will be available to anyone who hasn't subscribed to Apple Music yet when they request songs through Siri.

Apple Music Voice will launch this Spring.

Alex Choros

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Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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