is my HomePod Mini fixable?

Bought my second HomePod mini to have bedside (quietly hoping that bedtime podcast listening on it would no longer register as screen time for my phone). My phone goes into the Belkin charger overnight 8” away. No network issues.

but every night is an impossible task of choosing a podcast from my phone and trying to flip it to the mini. I can be 2min into the podcast, but if it goes to the mini- restarts. And that’s if it goes to it at all.

I can see it on my phone “playing” on the mini with no sound. I try to reselect, and it starts it simultaneously on my phone (mini maybe plays it most likely not).

my older mini has rarely had this issue, and at greater distances. I’m flummoxed as to why the beside fails to work logically