By will-buy
The Apple HomePod mini smart speaker contains an unused humidity and temperature sensor unmentioned by Apple, according to a Bloomberg report. The sensor is inactive at this time but tend to be started up with a firmware update enabling the the smart speaker to watch and run a room’s environmental conditions.
Heat and Humidity
The reports describe a little 1.5 mm square chip built by Texas Instruments located on the bottom of the HomePod mini, near to in which the power cable connects to the smart speaker. The sensor’s location will give it the ability to appraise the surrounding humidity and temperature. The sensor appears to be fully built-into the HomePod mini, allowing it to wirelessly adjust smart thermostats, fans, or windows based on the user’s preferences after connecting the other devices towards the smart speaker. Presumably, they would all continue to function through the Apple HomeKit ecosystem of smart home devices. There are a large number of HomeKit thermostats, however they all rely on temperature sensors not provided through the smart speaker.
Smart Warming Up
When Apple debuted the HomePod mini last fall, it had been seen as an entry-level option for Apple’s smart speakers. However, using the end from the standard HomePod seemingly in view, the scaled-down version would be the only Apple choice. While the $99 price tag for high-end Apple hardware, automatic syncing between multiple HomePod minis with the Intercom feature, and the connection to Siri are appealing to some, it still needs to compete with balance more widely used smart speakers made by Amazon and Google.
Without the regular HomePod along with the rumored cancellation of other HomePod projects, the HomePod mini remains attempting to be everything to each possible client. Activating the sensor could help the HomePod mini compete with Amazon Echo and Google Nest smart home networks. A built-in thermometer in the HomePod mini could offer a counterpoint for sales against the similarly equipped Echo smart speaker. Google's Nest lacks a built-in thermometer, relying instead on Nest-specific sensors that users are able to place around their house to determine the temperature. Still, Apple will have to attract more than its current HomePod fans to help make the HomePod mini a practical competitor, otherwise, as Voicebot founder Bret Kinsella put it this past year, the mini will you need to be “too little, too late.”
