Pre-Ordered HomePod Mini Delivery Times Slip into Early December

Pre-orders for Apple's new HomePod mini smart speaker began last Friday, and shipping times have already started slipping into December.

homepodminicolors
The first wave of ‌HomePod mini‌ pre-orders are expected to arrive in customers' hands on Monday, November 16 at the earliest, but supply constraints have started to hit stock of both white and space gray variants, with the latter color faring worst.

Taking a ‌HomePod mini‌ through Apple's online checkout today, the space gray color delivers between December 2 and December 9 with Express Shipping selected, and selecting Standard Delivery shows delivery dates between December 3 and December 10.

Meanwhile the white color delivers between November 24 and December 2 with Express Delivery selected, and between November 25 and December 3 if choosing Standard Delivery.

The difference in delivery wait times could mean the space grey is proving more popular. On the other hand, it could just be indicative of manufacture and supply chain issues for that particular model. Either way, if you're looking to pick up a ‌HomePod mini‌ as soon as possible, the white color is the one to order.

Lest we forget, pre-orders for the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max also began last Friday, and while supplies appear to have been adequate enough to meet initial demand, the 256GB ‌iPhone 12 mini‌ in some colors and some ‌iPhone 12 Pro‌ Max colors and capacities will not arrive until later in November or early December for orders placed now.

Related Roundup: HomePod mini
Buyer's Guide: HomePod Mini (Neutral)

Top Rated Comments

FatMax Avatar
31 months ago

They're just underproducing them... That way you'll think that the product is super popular when in reality IT IS NOT!
If you were launching a product, would you:

1 - Underproduce to create hype and no cash
2 - Produce as much as you can to earn cash

This whole underproducing idea is just silly.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Quu Avatar
31 months ago
I own two Homepods and they sound great, really. But Siri is just not good enough. If you thought Siri was bad on your iPhone or Mac it's worse on the Homepod in some aspects and better in others.

She hears you more clearly, that's great.
She takes longer to interact with your home devices that were added to Homekit on your iPhone though. Lights? forget about it.

I can't count the number of times I've said "turn the lights on" for my Homepod to respond "hmm.." "hmm.." "I'm sorry that device isn't responding" or even "You don't have any lights setup" lol but I can go to my phone, hey siri, turn the lights on and boom they're on.

The consistency of the assistant software between the different devices Siri is available on is insane. I can literally say to our Amazon Echo "Alexa turn the lights on" and she does it even faster than Siri on my iPhone that has the lights added right there on device.

So yeah, I love my Homepods for sound quality but Siri is just terrrrrible. So I'm really confused as to why people would want a Homepod Mini unless you've never tried a Homepod before because it doesn't have the sound quality of the big Homepod but has the same bad Siri.

Last thing I wanted to say is I do love my Homepod, for its audio quality. And that's all sadly.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
44267547 Avatar
31 months ago

They're just underproducing them...
Conspiracy theories on Macrumors doesn’t fly with anyone, fortunately Apple knows what they’re doing, when you don’t.

The Mini will be a monster hit for the holidays.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Twimfy Avatar
31 months ago

I own two Homepods and they sound great, really. But Siri is just not good enough. If you thought Siri was bad on your iPhone or Mac it's worse on the Homepod in some aspects and better in others.

She hears you more clearly, that's great.
She takes longer to interact with your home devices that were added to Homekit on your iPhone though. Lights? forget about it.

I can't count the number of times I've said "turn the lights on" for my Homepod to respond "hmm.." "hmm.." "I'm sorry that device isn't responding" or even "You don't have any lights setup" lol but I can go to my phone, hey siri, turn the lights on and boom they're on.

The consistency of the assistant software between the different devices Siri is available on is insane. I can literally say to our Amazon Echo "Alexa turn the lights on" and she does it even faster than Siri on my iPhone that has the lights added right there on device.

So yeah, I love my Homepods for sound quality but Siri is just terrrrrible. So I'm really confused as to why people would want a Homepod Mini unless you've never tried a Homepod before because it doesn't have the sound quality of the big Homepod but has the same bad Siri.

Last thing I wanted to say is I do love my Homepod, for its audio quality. And that's all sadly.
It's interesting you say this because my experience is the EXACT opposite. I never use our HomePod for audio but it's a rock solid mainstay of our smart home, deals with all the lights and sensors etc without fail every time and is even getting really good at recoginising the difference between my wife and I (it was awful to begin with). This is why I've pre-ordered two minis to spread that further through the house without spending a fortune (also I'm sick of my wife shouting down the stairs hoping Siri will hear her).

However both of our posts prove a solid point, Siri and the whole ecosystem surrounding it is inconsisent and what works for one is a disaster for others and despite my positive experiences I couldn't confidently recommend the set up to another.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Seanm87 Avatar
31 months ago

They're just underproducing them... That way you'll think that the product is super popular when in reality IT IS NOT!
Apple don’t need to generate hype. The demand is already there, they’re losing money by not having enough in stock.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NightFox Avatar
31 months ago

If they have shipping estimates on ORDERS into december, they are both taking cash and continuing to produce them, with a backlog. You didn't really think that through, did you?
But they're not taking cash, they don't do that until despatching items. With a new product, lots of purchases come from impulse buyers caught up in the moment - if you can't satisfy that demand very quickly then the moment passes, you lose your advantage and people either don't place an order or cancel their orders once their pulse rate has gone back to normal. You can't give people time to change their minds, certainly not as part of an actual strategy.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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