There’s been lots of curiosity in Apple’s plans for a HomePod with a show through the years and now it looks like such a product might be coming, however anticipate greater than a display screen on a HomePod. Apple is alleged to have a number of new sensible house associated merchandise on the horizon that can combine sensible shows and cameras and produce options from the HomePod and Apple TV along with a way to regulate sensible house gadgets.
Apple has lengthy been rumored to be engaged on a number of house gadgets with sensible shows. As way back as 2021 Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman was speaking about how a future Apple TV and iPad would possibly incorporate HomePod audio parts and symbolize a push into the sensible house. Over the next years the rumoured merchandise have developed and multiplied, and AI, and related Siri enhancements, are actually influencing Apple’s plans on this space.
Apple’s HomePod presently victims from its reliance on Siri to regulate it. With Siri not capable of perceive directions in addition to may be hoped, some HomePod customers select as a substitute to interface with the gadget through an iPhone, however this generally is a drain on the iPhone battery. Incorporating a display screen would enable customers to interface with the HomePod through its show. Nonetheless, with Siri set to turn out to be extra ‘clever’ due to Apple Intelligence, the necessity for this display screen to interface with the gadgets could also be diminished. What different plans might Apple have for a sensible display screen on a HomePod – or another gadgets for that matter?
On this article, we are going to maintain monitor of all of the developments and rumors about these new HomeHub merchandise, which might begin arriving earlier than the tip of 2025.
What are Apple’s HomeHub merchandise?
In Gurman’s 2021 report he mentioned two merchandise:
A product that fuses the HomePod and Apple TV with a digicam that might be used for video conferencing through the TV display screen. (Suppose Google Nest Hub and Amazon Echo Present competitor.) This FaceTime Apple TV set-top field combo, was once more rumored in January 2023.
A product that mixes an iPad with a HomePod and a digicam on a robotic arm that might observe the consumer across the room throughout a video chat. (Suppose Fb Portal). In response to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in August 2024, this gadget, code-named J595, will use a skinny robotic arm to regulate a big show, with actuators that enable it to spin 360 levels or tilt up and down. Gurman’s sources say the gadget is envisioned as a “sensible house command heart, videoconferencing machine, and remote-controlled house safety instrument.”
Since Gurman’s report in 2021 the next associated merchandise have additionally been referred to:
In January 2023 Gurman wrote once more of Apple’s plans to tackle the sensible house market this time with a low-end iPad that will likely be used to regulate smart-home programs equivalent to heating and lights and to make FaceTime video calls. This gadget, codenamed J490, will mix an iPad-like display screen with smart-home controls to regulate smart-home programs equivalent to heating and lights and make FaceTime video calls.
In the identical report, Gurman claimed Apple additionally plans to launch plenty of bigger smart-home shows. Is the Apple Tv not lifeless in any case?
Proof of Apple’s sensible HomeHub challenge
It’s not clear if Apple has a number of new gadgets deliberate, or if there’s some crossover with the above, nevertheless it’s clear that Apple has groups concerned with this challenge.
In August 2024, it was reported that Apple has a group of a number of hundred folks engaged on a brand-new house gadget.
In July 2024, code was found referring to new a tool recognized as “HomeAccessory17,1.” This might relate to the HomePod, which Apple refers to as “AudioAccessory”. There have been additionally references found to a variant of tvOS, much like what the HomePod runs.
The tvOS 17.4 beta again in February 2024 additionally referenced a tool codenamed Z314 that featured an A15 chip and ran tvOS. Each the HomePod and Apple TV already run tvOS. In response to a 9to5Mac report, hangtracerd (which is used to debug unresponsive UIs) has additionally been added to the HomePod model of tvOS 17.4, a giant indication that there will likely be a HomePod with a show – though tvOS 17.4 arrived without the accompaniment of a brand new HomePod.
In October 2023 ‘Kotsutami’ posted (in a since-deleted tweet) a picture of what they claimed to be a prototype of the subsequent HomePod with “totally different glass” for the show on the high (which might be used as a touchscreen).
An Engineering construct HomePod frameshell with a very totally different glass on top- it’s set for touchscreen, with black bezel
The design of shell is much like HomePod 2nd gen’s, not the first gen—it stands would possibly determined add 🖥️ for two’s however not finally, OR it’s subsequent technology pic.twitter.com/W5zRIVGPiK
Kosutami (@KosutamiSan) October 21, 2023
On the time 9to5Mac claimed to have sources that verified Kotsutami’s footage as reputable. That web site additionally reported that the codename of the HomePod is B720, and that Apple is utilizing a model of tvOS with rewritten Apple Music and Podcasts apps which can be suited to the show of the prototype HomePod which might present colours primarily based on the album artwork whereas audio is taking part in, and present notifications.
In April 2022 Gurman referred to Apple’s plans, stating that Apple is “completely” nonetheless engaged on a brand new HomePod, which Gurman says will mix a HomePod, Apple TV, and FaceTime digicam right into a single “mixture product will most likely be on the heart of Apple’s method.”
HomePod with display screen/HomeHub: Launch date
It’s thought that the gadgets are not going to be launched on the similar time.
J490, the iPad/sensible show that can be utilized for FaceTime and controlling house home equipment might arrive first. This might launch in 2025, based on Mark Gurman.
Nonetheless, the discharge date has been pushed again on account of delays referring to Apple Intelligence and Siri particularly. In March 2025, Mark Gurman claimed that: “The corporate had hoped to announce a brand new sensible hub product in March 2025, however as a result of the gadget, to an extent, depends on the delayed Siri capabilities, it has been postponed as effectively.”
Apple Intelligence-powered Siri updates that have been promised for iOS 18 have been delayed to later in 2025. Certainly, it’s potential these Siri options gained’t be absolutely rolled out 2026, so we might be ready that lengthy for this HomeHub product.
Nonetheless, testing is underway, based on Gurman, with Apple mentioned to have begun an inner testing program for the hub. The testing apparently entails members of Apple employees being permitted to take prototypes of the gadget house for testing and suggestions.
Mark Gurman isn’t a mortgage voice in all this. Again, in March 2023 Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo wrote about Apple’s smart-home plans. He indicated that Apple “will unveil a redesigned HomePod that includes a 7-inch panel in 1H24,” and that this gadget “might allow tighter integration with Apple’s different {hardware} merchandise.” On the time Kuo gave the anticipated launch date for the HomePod with a display screen as the primary half of 2024 (which clearly didn’t occur).
Then in December 2024, Kuo indicated that the HomePod with display screen gained’t arrive till after WWDC 2025. He wrote on Medium: “The mass manufacturing schedule for the display-equipped HomePod has been delayed a number of instances. Initially forecasted for 2024 (as I predicted in 2023), it was postponed to 1Q25, and extra just lately, additional delayed to after WWDC 2025/3Q25.”
Kuo blamed software program growth for the delay in manufacturing, though he didn’t make clear why the software program is taking longer than anticipated to develop.
Nonetheless, in March 2025 Kuo tweeted that the HomePod with display screen will likely be additional delayed not simply due to Apple Intelligence delays, however as a result of it must align with different new Apple merchandise.
J595, the iPad-like show with tabletop robotic limb is anticipated to reach a lot later.
HomePod with display screen/HomeHub: Value
The gadgets can have totally different capabilities and pricing.
The value of J490 will rely on what it incorporates. If it’s a HomePod with display screen, the value is probably going be on the excessive finish of the HomePod product line, so it might have a worth of round $599.
J595, which mixes an iPad-like show with a robotic limb and is meant to perform as a sensible house “command heart,” might price $1,000 or extra, in accordance to Gurman in September 2024.
HomePod with display screen/HomeHub: Design
In response to Ming-Chi Kuo in March 2023, Apple “will unveil a redesigned HomePod that includes a 7-inch panel” in 2024. That’s not a lot smaller than the iPad mini, which has an 8.3-inch show.
This tallies with what Gurman initially recommended in April 2021. He described a high-end speaker with a contact display screen that may mix an iPad with a HomePod speaker and a digicam mounted on a robotic arm that might observe the consumer across the room throughout a video chat. The display screen would additionally supply multi-touch performance.
To get an thought of how this might look we want solely take a look at the Amazon Echo Present 10, which mixes a show that strikes mechanically with Amazon’s speaker. The Echo Present 10 prices $249.99 / £259.99.
Swiss web site Useful Abovergleich and designer Eric Huismann have created a collection of idea illustrations of how this new technology of HomePod might look. They’ve provide you with idea designs for 2 separate gadgets: the HomePod TV (a combination of the HomePod and the Apple TV) and the HomePod Present (a HomePod with a touchscreen show).
Right, here’s how they think about the HomePod Present—a speaker with a digicam and a touchscreen—might look.
Swiss web site Useful Abovergleich got here up with an illustration of how an Apple TV HomePod combo would possibly look. They name this one the HomePod TV–the bar below the TV turns into not solely the hub for TV, web, and sensible gadgets but in addition a sound system with help for requirements equivalent to Dolby Atmos and Apple Lossless.
For extra concepts about how Apple would possibly reinvent the HomePod learn: How the HomePod may be Apple’s new iPod: Enjoyable, common, and easy. Plus, May Apple’s rumored HomePod really be a tiny Studio Show? and Why Apple wants a HomePod with a display screen.
HomePod with display screen/HomeHub: Software program, Siri and AI
The important thing to such merchandise tends to be their sensible assistant and Apple has plans to enhance Siri with Apple Intelligence (AI). Nonetheless, Apple has delayed the discharge of its new improved Siri and this has had an impact on the timing of those new merchandise which, Gurman famous in September 2024, “are thought-about collaborations between Apple’s synthetic intelligence and residential gadget {hardware} engineering teams.”
The long-rumored sensible house hub has subsequently been postponed as a result of the Siri options it was meant to be primarily based round will not be prepared for motion.
As Macworld’s David Value has beforehand said, when discussing why the HomePod wants wants greater than a display screen – “What would assistance is an intensive overhaul of Siri: repair that, after which positive, you may have a display screen alongside a voice management system that really works.”
HomePod with display screen/HomeHub: Specs and options
We don’t know a lot concerning the specs of any of those gadgets, however their must help Apple Intelligence will imply they do require excessive finish tech inside:
Processor
The HomePod that launched in January 2023 featured the identical S7 chip because the Apple Watch Sequence 7. This implies the present HomePod doesn’t help Apple Intelligence and the brand new Siri options.
We anticipate {that a} HomePod with a display screen will use a extra highly effective processor, that’s suitable with Apple Intelligence.
Digital camera
If the brand new gadget combines a HomePod with a digicam, or locations a digicam on a robotic arm, that digicam might share lots of the options of the present vary of cameras in Apple’s Macs, iPad and iPhones.
The concept the digicam might observe you round will not be essential if Centre Stage, a characteristic launched in 2021 and now current in all iPads, iPhones and Macs, can carry out that perform.
This digicam is also used to acknowledge gestures. Some years in the past a patent was filed that associated to a future HomePod that might interpret 3D hand gestures. That patent describes a HomePod that may “interpret three-dimensional hand gestures as a way of controlling the gadget in order to execute an motion or perform.”
Multi-touch show
We’re hoping that Apple will give us one thing that can compete with the Echo Present, so we will view YouTube movies and use apps on the brand new hybrid gadget. Maybe we gained’t get the show we hope for, however a extra interactive show than the one we now have presently can be nice. We’d prefer to see extra than simply quantity controls and a Siri animation.
