TapTechNews September 24th news, Apple released the HomePod 18.1 Beta 2 update earlier today for developers to test, but then pulled the beta update.
On the MacRumors forum and X, some users complained that after installing this beta version on their HomePod mini, the device directly bricked and could not work properly. Some users said that fortunately they were able to restore the HomePod mini using the Apple Configurator application on the Mac.
As of TapTechNews writing this article, this beta version is still unavailable and it is not clear when it will be re-released.
It is worth noting that a similar problem occurred with Apple's iPadOS 18. This software update caused some of the latest iPad Pros with M4 chips to brick earlier this month, and Apple withdrew the update for this model.