If Kang’s post is accurate, it would seem that the HomePod mini could be priced at $99. This is surprising when you consider the fact that Apple typically does not price its products or accessories at prices that many would consider “cheap” or even “affordable”. However, it stands to reason that this would make sense.
This is because the HomePod is priced at $299 which is actually one of the more expensive smart speakers in the market today. Its price and also lack of features resulted in it kind of flopping, so a $99 HomePod mini might be more appealing. It could encourage users to adopt the device, which in turn could help speed up HomeKit adoption as it would allow users to control their smart home devices using Siri.
Companies like Amazon and Google have had success by releasing cheaper, smaller smart speakers like the Echo Dot and the Nest Mini, so perhaps Apple is hoping to mimic that success. Either way, hopefully Apple will have more details for us next week at the iPhone 12 event.