Apple’s new HomePod announcement is random to say the least

While it’s Apple‘s product launch events that make the biggest splash, the company has a penchant for revealing new gear via a simple press release. Reserved for more iterative product refreshes, updates to the Apple Newsroom are still hungrily lapped up by fans. But the company’s latest press release is raising eyebrows.

‘Apple introduces HomePod mini in midnight’ screams the latest headline on Apple’s newsroom page. And if you think a press release sounds a little over-the-top for a single new colour for Apple’s mini speaker, just wait till you see how it compares with  existing space grey version. (In the market for new gear? Check out the best Apple Prime Day deals currently available.)

In what appears to be Apple’s own version of the famous ‘They’re the same picture‘ meme, the midnight hued version of HomePod mini looks extremely similar to the space grey version it appears to be replacing. Which lends the question: why? And by extension: why announce it so notably?

Indeed, it’s hard to figure out exactly why Apple decided to make such a song and dance about this one. Perhaps it simply wanted to send out a signal that the HomePod lineup still matters? Still, sometimes the company moves in mysterious ways – remember the time it launched a set of wheels for $700?