Apple’s authentic sensible speaker, the HomePod, first went on sale in February 2018, adopted by the HomePod mini in November 2020. The unique HomePod was then discontinued in March 2021, just for Apple to reintroduce the bigger speaker in January 2023, indicating that it wasn’t executed with the sensible speaker market but. And now, rumors are heating up about one other replace to the HomePod coming: a HomePod with a display screen.
The rumor that Apple intends to launch a brand new HomePod geared up with a display screen and mixing options from different Apple units isn’t a brand new one. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman wrote about Apple’s plans for a HomePod with a display screen again in 2021 when he advised that Apple was growing “new audio system with screens and cameras”. He additionally advised {that a} product that combines the Apple TV and HomePod might be on the best way.
Learn on to search out out what’s in retailer for the HomePod and the way Apple is bettering its speaker, with rumors indicating that the subsequent mannequin could also be bigger, characteristic a display screen, and provide the power to host convention calls.
HomePod with display screen: Launch date
- Spring 2024 launch is feasible.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman first spoke of Apple’s plans for a HomePod with a display screen again in March 2021. On the time he claimed that the launch was not imminent. He even warned that the brand new product would possibly by no means hit the market. Nevertheless, over the months and years since that first report, the proof has been mounting that there’s an Apple HomePod with a show within the pipeline.
A Bloomberg report from Mark Gurman again in Could 2021 briefly talked about Apple’s plans to so promote hybrid HomePod merchandise. And in April 2022 Gurman referred to those plans once more, stating that Apple is “completely” nonetheless engaged on a brand new HomePod, which Gurman says will mix a HomePod, Apple TV, and FaceTime digital camera right into a single “mixture product will most likely be on the heart of Apple’s strategy.”
As time has handed increasingly more proof that such a tool is within the works at Apple has emerged, and now it seems like we might be seeing one thing very quickly.
The newest proof that such a product is coming was discovered within the tvOS 17.4 beta in February 2024. The third beta model of tvOS 17.4 references a tool codenamed Z314 that options an A15 chip and runs tvOS. Each the HomePod and Apple TV already run tvOS. Based on 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 might be a HomePod with a show. tvOS 17.5 may arrive as quickly as March 6, 2024. Apple might be set to carry a spring Apple Occasion in late March or April.
In October 2023 there was but extra proof of such a tool when ‘Kotsutami’ posted (in a now-deleted tweet) a picture of what they claimed to be a prototype of the subsequent HomePod with “completely different glass” for the show on the prime (which might be used as a touchscreen).
An Engineering construct HomePod frameshell with a very completely 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
9to5Mac claimed to have sources that verified Kotsutami’s footage as reliable. That website 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 are suited to the show of the prototype HomePod which may present colours based mostly on the album artwork whereas audio is enjoying, and present notifications.
Again in March 2023 analyst Ming-Chi Kuo additionally 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 system “may allow tighter integration with Apple’s different {hardware} merchandise.” Kuo provides the anticipated launch date for the HomePod with a display screen as the primary half of 2024.
HomePod with display screen: Why we’d like one
Apple’s HomePod depends on voice management by way of Siri or AirPlay management by way of an iPhone or iPad. Utilizing Siri to regulate HomePod music playback will be irritating and overly complicated due to the sensation that you should know precisely which directions to present to get Siri to, for instance, skip a observe. Those that favor a visible interface could use their iPhone to regulate music playback on their HomePod, with the advantage of having the ability to faucet to Favorite a observe, view observe info and lyrics, management quantity and extra. One drawback of utilizing the iPhone to regulate the HomePod is the necessity to have an AirPlay connection, which may result in battery drain.
If Apple added music title and album identify, skip and a favorite button to the show that might make the HomePod infinitely extra useable. Even higher if we may view the lyrics too.
HomePod with a display screen: Value
If Apple does launch a HomePod with a display screen it’ll assist the HomePod compete with units from Google and Amazon which have mixed a speaker with a display screen for a while, such because the Amazon Echo Present. However it’ll must be priced favorably to compete in that market.
You should buy the Echo Present 10 on Amazon U.S. for $249.99 or Amazon U.Ok. for £259.99 and the Echo Present 15 on Amazon U.S. for $239.99 or Amazon U.Ok. for £239.99.)
The usual HomePod at the moment prices $299/£299 whereas the HomePod mini prices $99/£99.
If Apple provides a display screen to the usual HomePod and removes the present mannequin from sale we may see the same $299/£299 value level. There could also be an extended wait earlier than the display screen involves the HomePod mini.
HomePod with display screen: Design
Based on 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. (By the way, an replace to the iPad mini is predicted in 2023).
This tallies with what Gurman initially advised in April 2021. He described a high-end speaker with a contact display screen that might mix an iPad with a HomePod speaker and a digital camera mounted on a robotic arm that would observe the consumer across the room throughout a video chat. The display screen would additionally provide multi-touch performance.
To get an concept of how this might look we’d like solely take a look at the Amazon Echo Present 10, which mixes a show that strikes robotically with Amazon’s speaker. The Echo Present 10 prices $249.99 / £259.99.
Foundry / Jim Martin
Swiss web site Useful Abovergleich and designer Eric Huismann have created a collection of idea illustrations of how this new technology of HomePod may look. They’ve give you idea designs for 2 separate units: the HomePod TV (a mix 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 digital camera and a touchscreen—may look.
HomePod with display screen: Specs and options
We don’t know a lot about what the HomePod with a show will appear like, however right here’s what we count on when it comes to specs and options for the brand new system:
Processor
The HomePod that launched in January 2023 featured the identical S7 chip because the Apple Watch Collection 7. We count on {that a} HomePod with a display screen will use a extra highly effective processor, maybe the identical A15 chip because the iPad mini.
Digital camera
The brand new HomePod may characteristic a digital camera, as is rumored within the Bloomberg piece from 2021. With a digital camera integrated into the HomePod, it might be doable to take part in a video convention utilizing FaceTime with out an iPhone or iPad.
A digital camera may be used to acknowledge gestures. Some years in the past a patent was filed that associated to a future HomePod that would interpret 3D hand gestures. That patent describes a HomePod that may “interpret three-dimensional hand gestures as a way of controlling the system in order to execute an motion or operate.”
Multi-touch show
We’re hoping that Apple will give us one thing that may compete with the Echo Present, so we are able to view YouTube movies and use apps on the brand new hybrid system. Maybe we gained’t get the show we hope for, however a extra interactive show than the one we’ve got at the moment can be nice. We’d prefer to see extra than simply quantity controls and a Siri animation.
Will Apple mix HomePod and Apple TV?
A Bloomberg report from Gurman again in April 2021 mentioned Apple’s plans for 2 future Apple merchandise which do appear to point that Apple was no less than contemplating making a HomePod with a display screen. These rumored merchandise included:
- A product that fuses the HomePod and Apple TV with a digital camera that might be used for video conferencing by way of the TV display screen.
- A product that mixes a sensible speaker with a contact display screen – it may mix an iPad with a HomePod and mount a digital camera on a robotic arm that would really observe the consumer across the room throughout a video chat.
Combining the HomePod and Apple TV does appear like one thing that’s being investigated by Apple. The Bloomberg report above mentions it, however that wasn’t the primary indication that one thing like this was deliberate.
In April 2020 it emerged that Apple had switched the software program on the HomePod from iOS to tvOS. Such a transfer may make it even simpler to merge these merchandise sooner or later.
What’s much less apparent is what Apple would obtain by combining the HomePod and Apple TV, these in search of audio enhancements can already use the HomePod because the audio output of their Apple TV.
Swiss web site Useful Abovergleich did give you an illustration of how this would possibly look (above). They name this one the HomePod TV–the bar underneath the TV turns into not solely the hub for TV, web, and sensible units but in addition a sound system with assist for requirements akin to Dolby Atmos and Apple Lossless.
For extra concepts about how Apple would possibly reinvent the HomePod learn: How the HomePod will be Apple’s new iPod: Enjoyable, well-liked, and easy. Plus, Might Apple’s rumored HomePod really be a tiny Studio Show? and Why Apple wants a HomePod with a display screen.
Foundry / Jim Martin