We’ve heard rumors for years that Apple is working on a HomePod with a screen that can function as a smart hub. Although we are still far away from an official confirmation, the latter will be released Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman’s latest Power On newsletter suggests that Apple will at least continue to work on innovative ways to combine its devices – including creating a HomePod-meets-iPad hybrid – but that we can expect this new Apple home hub to arrive this year.
In the newsletter, Gurman explains that Apple has been testing some new ways to bring its various offerings together. “There was a device that would combine the Apple TV, FaceTime and HomePod into one system, as well as a HomePod with a screen that rotates like a robotic arm,” Gurman writes. “Apple has also been exploring creating iPad-like smart displays that can be magnetically attached to walls.”
As exciting as these Franken devices sound, they appear to have only been experiments so far. However, that doesn’t mean that a smart home device with a display won’t be part of Apple’s future. Gurman notes that Apple has talked to suppliers about the idea – such as China’s BYD, which is involved in the production of some iPads – but he suggests we’ll probably wait until 2025 at the earliest, perhaps later.
Would a HomePod-meets-iPad be too little too late?
There are examples of Apple coming late to a specific product category and still succeeding: the first over-ear noise canceling headphones, the Apple AirPods Max, were only released in 2020. And while they may be too expensive to consider completely mainstream, it’s amazing how many you see in the cities (or maybe how many knockoffs you see – but either way, it shows how popular they are).
Does this mean that when Apple’s HomePod comes onto the market with a screen – even if that takes a whole year – it is guaranteed to convince Apple enthusiasts? We’re not so sure.
Apple certainly has the technology and marketing to make most of its products fly, but that hasn’t been the case with the HomePod. Apple’s smart speaker is far from a disaster, but at this point it seems like it will always be second best to Amazon’s smart speakers, whether that’s the Echo, the smaller Echo Dot or – in this case – the Echo Show has a screen. The Echo Show 10 is an incredibly smart take on a smart display, and even follows some concepts that Apple apparently toyed with, like a moving screen.
Apple would probably have to do more than bring us an iPad-like screen on a HomePod-like smart speaker to lure those who like the idea of a smart screen away from Amazon and its (powerful) ecosystem, and convince those who don’t yet believe in the idea that they actually need one in their home.
Then again, if Gurman is right and Apple’s plans involve combining a bunch of different offerings into one device, rather than releasing its own late version of an Amazon Echo Show, Apple might be able to bring us something completely different. As long as Amazon doesn’t beat it in the years between now and whatever Apple’s plans are…