Apple just fixed a little "bug" that had been located when charging the new HomePod mini. Simple bullshit that was somewhat annoying and difficult to understand. Apple's small speaker did not support a charger other than its own.
A small annoyance that a priori could seem like a hardware problem, that for some power reason, you could not power the home pod mini with an 18W charger. Well, it was a software error, since with the latest update of its firmware 14.3 it has been resolved.
Apple launched a few days ago version 14.3 of the HomePod Software for the HomePod and HomePod mini. It has now been found to include a small but noticeable change for the latter of Apple's two smart speakers. With version 14.3, the HomePod mini can now be powered by an 18W charger, which previously could not be done, it only supported its own 20W charger.
Apple includes a USB-C wall charger from 20w in the HomePod mini box, but when the first orders came in last month, many people were quick to try it out with an 18W charger instead. Originally this caused the HomePod mini to show a red / orange circle on the top screen, and it wouldn't charge, but the HomePod Software 14.3 seems to have added support for such 18W chargers.
This is a notable advantage for several reasons. First of all, it means that you can now power the speaker with an 18W Apple charger you already had from another device. Apple included an 18W USB-C charger with the iPhone 11 Pro last year so it is much more prevalent in many households than the newly released 20W adapter. The iPad Pro it also previously included an 18W power adapter.
This also means that the HomePod mini can now be powered by third-party chargers and portable batteries, effectively turning it into a "portable" AirPlay speaker. A laptop in quotes, since as it does not have its own internal battery, you must use an 18W portable battery for it. But hey, it's something.