Snag a refurbished Apple HomePod mini for $9 off in a rare deal

a close-up of a person holding an iphone over an apple homepod mini

SAVE $9.01: Best Buy has a Geek Squad Certified Refurbished Apple HomePod mini on sale for $89.99 as of Aug. 8. It usually retails for $99, so you'll save about 9%.

Good news for anyone who's still mourning the discontinuation of the Apple HomePod (2018-2021): It could be making a comeback soon. A recent report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman claims Apple is planning to release a new version of the $349 smart speaker with an "updated display on top" and "multi-touch functionality" (maybe), though it's probably not going to launch until 2023.

If you can't wait until then, here's some more good news: Best Buy has a rare deal on an Apple HomePod mini, the cheaper, more compact edition of the original HomePod that's still in production. As of Aug. 8, you can order a Geek Squad Certified Refurbished one on sale there for just $89.99.

That's around 9% off its suggested retail price of $99, which doesn't seem like much until you consider that the HomePod mini is ridiculously hard to find on sale in any condition. We can't remember the last time it happened, at least.

Released in 2020, the 3.3-inch HomePod mini packs a built-in Siri voice assistant and an S5 chip — the same processor found in the Apple Watch Series 5 — which enables big-for-its-size sound and computational audio for real-time audio tuning. (Put two together in the same room and you can sync them up for an immersive stereo experience.) Former Mashable tech reporter Brenda Stolyar found its overall vibe to be "more approachable" than the standard HomePod in her brief time with it, noting that it "offers all the same features ... but in a more compact form factor."

"[You] can rest assured you won't be making any sacrifices by opting for the less expensive HomePod mini over the pricey original model," she confirmed.