There ’s been a lot of interest in Apple ’s plans for a HomePod with a display over the years and now it seems like the such a ware could be coming , but expect more than a screen on a HomePod . Apple is say to have multiple novel sassy home link product on the horizon that will integrate smart displays and television camera and bring feature from the HomePod and Apple TV together with a means to manipulate smart home devices .
Apple has long been rumored to be working on one or more home devices with smart displays . As long ago as 2021 Bloomberg newsman Mark Gurman was talking about how a future Apple TV and iPad might integrate HomePod audio elements and represent apush into the voguish plate . Over the subsequent years the rumor products have evolve and multiplied , and AI , and associated Siri improvements , are now influencing Apple ’s plans in this area .
Apple ’s HomePod currently sufferers from its trust on Siri to control it . With Siri not capable to understand educational activity as well as might be hope , some HomePod user pick out rather to interface with the gadget via an iPhone , but this can be a drain on the iPhone battery . Incorporating a CRT screen would allow users to interface with the HomePod via its display . However , with Siri countersink to become more ‘ levelheaded ’ thanks to Apple Intelligence , the need for this sieve to interface with the twist may be reduced . What other architectural plan could Apple have for a bright screen on a HomePod – or any other machine for that thing ?
Screenshot
In this article , we will keep cut of all the developments and rumors about these new HomeHub product , which could start arriving before the end of 2025 .
What are Apple’s HomeHub products?
In Gurman’s2021 reporthe discussed two product :
A product that fuses theHomePod and Apple TV with a camerathat could be used for video conferencing via the television screen . ( Think Google Nest Hub and Amazon Echo Show contender . ) This FaceTime Apple TV gear up - top box combo , was againrumored in January 2023 .
A product that immix aniPad with a HomePod and a camera on a robotic armthat could follow the user around the room during a video schmooze . ( Think Facebook Portal ) . agree to Bloomberg ’s Mark Gurman in August 2024 , this gimmick , code - namedJ595 , will habituate athin robotlike arm to control a large display , with actuators that allow it to spin 360 degrees or tilt up and down . Gurman ’s source say the gadget is envisioned as a “ smart home bidding center , videoconferencing car , and remote - controlled home surety tool . ”
Screenshot
Since Gurman ’s news report in 2021 the following connect products have also been referred to :
In January 2023 Gurman wrote again ofApple ’s plans to take on the smart home marketthis time with alow - end iPad that will be used to control impudent - home systemssuch as heat and lights and to make FaceTime television calls . This machine , codenamedJ490 , will merge an iPad - like screen with impertinent - abode controls to control saucy - habitation systems such as heating and lights and make FaceTime video phone call .
In the same report , Gurman claimed Apple also plan tolaunch a identification number of largersmart - menage displays . Is theApple Televisionnot dead after all ?
Screenshot
Evidence of Apple’s smart HomeHub project
Imagen 3 ( Gemini )
It ’s not clear if Apple has multiple new devices planned , or if there is some crossing over with the above , however it is clear that Apple has teams involved with this project .
In August 2024 , it was reported that Apple has a squad ofseveral hundred peopleworking on a new home gadget .
The Echo Show 10 has a screen attached to a speaker. Apple might do something similar with the HomePod.
In July 2024,code was discoveredreferring to new a equipment identified as “ HomeAccessory17,1 . ” This could relate to the HomePod , which Apple refers to as “ AudioAccessory ” . There were alsoreferencesdiscovered to a variant of tvOS , similar to what the HomePod run .
ThetvOS 17.4 betaback in February 2024 also reference a gadget codenamed Z314 that boast an A15 chip and ran tvOS . Both the HomePod and Apple TV already incline tvOS . According to a 9to5Mac report , hangtracerd ( which is used to debug unresponsive UIs ) has also been added to the HomePod edition of tvOS 17.4 , a big reading that there will be a HomePod with a exhibit – although tvOS 17.4 go far without the accompaniment of a new HomePod .
In October 2023 ‘ Kotsutami ’ post ( in a since - deleted tweet ) an image of what they claim to be aprototype of the next HomePodwith “ different methamphetamine ” for the show at the top ( which could be used as a touchscreen ) .
An Engineering work up HomePod frameshell with a wholly different glass on top- it ’s set for touchscreen , with black bezelThe design of cuticle is alike to HomePod 2nd gen ’s , not the 1st gen — it stand might decide add 🖥 ️for 2 ’s but not at last , OR it ’s next generationpic.twitter.com/W5zRIVGPiK
Kosutami ( @KosutamiSan ) October 21 , 2023
At the time9to5Macclaimed to have source that verified Kotsutami ’s pictures as licit . That situation also reported that the codename of the HomePod is B720 , and that Apple is using a adaptation of tvOS with rewrite Apple Music and Podcasts apps that are suited to the show of the image HomePod which could show vividness based on the album art while sound recording is wager , and show notifications .
In April 2022 Gurman referred to Apple ’s plans , say that Apple is “ utterly ” still working on a Modern HomePod , which Gurman say will combine a HomePod , Apple TV , and FaceTime photographic camera into a single “ combination product will in all likelihood be at the center of Apple ’s approach . ”
HomePod with screen/HomeHub: Release date
It ’s think that the gadget will not be launched at the same time .
J490 , the iPad / bright display that can be used for FaceTime and controlling home appliances may arrive first . This could found in 2025 , according to Mark Gurman .
However , the departure date has been pushed back due to delays connect to Apple Intelligence and Siri in particular . In March 2025 , Mark Gurman claim that : “ The company had hoped to announce a new smart hub merchandise in March 2025 , but because the machine , to an extent , relies on the detain Siri capabilities , it has been postponedas well . ”
Apple intelligence information - powered Siri updates that were promised for iOS 18 have been check to afterward in 2025 . Indeed , it ’s possible these Siri features wo n’t be to the full rolled out 2026 , so we could be waiting that long for this HomeHub product .
However , testing is afoot , according to Gurman , with Apple said to have begun an internal testing curriculum for the hub . The testing apparently imply members of Apple stave being permitted to take prototypes of the gimmick home for examination and feedback .
Mark Gurman is n’t a loan voice in all this . Back in March 2023 Apple analyst Ming - Chi Kuo wrote about Apple ’s smart - home programme . He point that Apple “ will unveil a redesign HomePod featuring a 7 - inch panel in 1H24 , ” and that this gadget “ could enable tight integrating with Apple ’s other hardware product . ” At the time Kuo yield the anticipate release date for the HomePod with a filmdom as the first one-half of 2024 ( which obviously did n’t happen ) .
Then in December 2024 , Kuo indicated that the HomePod with screenwon’t arrive until after WWDC 2025 . He wrote on Medium : “ The mass product schedule for the video display - equipped HomePod has been delayed multiple times . Initially portend for 2024 ( as I presage in 2023 ) , it was prorogue to 1Q25 , and more late , further detain to after WWDC 2025/3Q25 . ”
Kuo blamed software development for the delay in production , although he did n’t clarify why the software package is take longer than expected to train .
However , in March 2025 Kuo tweeted that the HomePod with screen will be further delayed not just because of Apple Intelligence delays , but because it needs toalign with other unexampled Apple products .
Screenshot
Foundry
J595 , the iPad - corresponding video display with tabletop robotlike tree branch is anticipate to arrive much later .
HomePod with screen/HomeHub: Price
The machine will have different capabilities and pricing .
The cost of J490 will depend on what it incorporate . If it ’s a HomePod with silver screen , the price is likely be at the high final stage of the HomePod product line , so it could have a price of around $ 599 .
J595 , which combines an iPad - like video display with a robotic limb and is intend to officiate as a smart home “ command substance , ” could cost $ 1,000 or more , accordingto Gurman in September 2024 .
HomePod with screen/HomeHub: Design
According to Ming - Chi Kuo in March 2023 , Apple “ will bring out a redesign HomePod feature a 7 - inch dialog box ” in 2024 . That ’s not much smaller than the iPad mini , which has an 8.3 - inch showing .
This tally with what Gurman originally suggested in April 2021 . He identify a in high spirits - end speaker with a touch screen that would merge an iPad with a HomePod speaker and a camera mounted on a robotic arm that could follow the user around the way during a picture confabulation . The silver screen would also offer multi - touch functionality .
To get an idea of how this could look we need only appear at the Amazon Echo Show 10 , which combines a presentation that moves automatically with Amazon ’s speaker . The Echo Show 10 costs$249.99/£259.99 .
Foundry / Jim Martin
Swiss websiteHandy Abovergleichand designer Eric Huismann have create a serial publication ofconcept illustrations of how this unexampled generation of HomePod could look . They have total up with concept designs for two disjoined devices : the HomePod TV ( a concoction of the HomePod and the Apple TV ) and the HomePod Show ( a HomePod with a touchscreen showing ) .
Here ’s how they imagine the HomePod Show — a speaker with a camera and a touchscreen — could await .
Swiss websiteHandy Abovergleichcame up with an illustration of how an Apple TV HomePod combo might look . They call this one the HomePod TV – the ginmill under the TV becomes not only the hub for TV , net , and sassy devices but also a intelligent organization with musical accompaniment for standards such as Dolby Atmos andApple Lossless .
For more ideas about how Apple might reinvent the HomePod read : How the HomePod can be Apple ’s novel iPod : Fun , pop , and simple . Plus , Could Apple ’s rumored HomePod really be a lilliputian Studio Display?andWhy Apple require a HomePod with a screen door .
HomePod with screen/HomeHub: Software, Siri and AI
The key to such intersection tends to be their smart assistant and Apple has plans to meliorate Siri with Apple Intelligence ( AI ) . However , Apple has delayed the dismission of its new improved Siri and this has had an effect on the timing of these raw intersection which , Gurman notedin September 2024 , “ are considered collaborations between Apple ’s unreal intelligence and home gimmick hardware technology mathematical group . ”
The long - bruit smart home hub has therefore been postpone because the Siri features it was intended to be ground around are not ready for action at law .
As Macworld ’s David Price has previously stated , when discussingwhy the HomePod needs want more than a blind – “ What would aid is a thoroughgoing inspection and repair of Siri : fix that , and then sure , you may have a screen alongside a phonation control organisation that actually works . ”
HomePod with screen/HomeHub: Specs and features
We do n’t know much about the specs of any of these devices , but their need to support Apple Intelligence will have in mind they do require high end technical school in spite of appearance :
Processor
The HomePod that plunge in January 2023 featured the same S7 chip as the Apple Watch Series 7 . This means the current HomePod does n’t support Apple Intelligence and the Modern Siri features .
We expect that a HomePod with a screen will use a more brawny central processor , that is compatible with Apple Intelligence .
Camera
If the young twist combine a HomePod with a camera , or places a television camera on a robot subdivision , that television camera may deal many of the feature of the current range of camera in Apple ’s Macs , iPad and iPhones .
The idea that the camera may follow you around may not be necessary if Centre Stage , a feature introduced in 2021 and now present in all iPads , iPhones and Macs , can perform that function .
This camera could also be used to recognize gestures . Some twelvemonth ago a patent of invention was filed that have-to doe with to a next HomePod that could interpret 3D hand gestures . Thatpatent describesa HomePod that can “ translate three - dimensional handwriting gestures as a mean value of controlling the machine so as to carry out an action or mathematical function . ”
Multi-touch display
We ’re hoping that Apple will give us something that will compete with the Echo Show , so we can view YouTube videos and use apps on the fresh hybrid machine . Perhaps we wo n’t get the video display we are hoping for , but a more interactive display than the one we have presently would be great . We ’d wish to see more than just volume controls and a Siri animation .
