The HomePod will be going up for pre-order tomorrow where it will be released on the 9th of February. For the most part it is a speaker, but it will also come with smart features like Siri, and will also be able to stream music via Apple Music (similar to how Sonos speakers can stream from music platforms directly).
For those wondering about how the speakers will be setup, the folks at 9to5Mac have put together a video that shows the whole HomePod setup process. Basically it seems like similar to the AirPods, placing your iOS device will see users prompted to proceed with the setup. However before proceeding, it seems that users will be required to have iCloud Keychain and two-factor authentication, so if you typically don’t use those features and have disabled them, it looks like you will need to turn them on in order to get HomePod to work.
Pairing the device will also require users to enter a passcode which can be done by either your iOS device listening for a special tone that is played back by the HomePod, or by entering in the passcode manually which will be read out loud by Siri on the HomePod. Once that’s done, users can choose the room that the HomePod will be placed, choose the language for Siri, and so on.
It seems fairly straightforward and could be worth taking note of if you plan on buying the device when it is released.