HomePod with a screen: Apple’s Home Hub/smart display plans

Macworld

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 product could be coming, but expect more than a screen on a HomePod. Apple is said to have multiple new smart home related products on the horizon that will integrate smart displays and cameras and bring features from the HomePod and Apple TV together with a means to control 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 reporter Mark Gurman was talking about how a future Apple TV and iPad might incorporate HomePod audio elements and represent a push into the smart home.  Over the subsequent years the rumoured products have evolved and multiplied, and AI, and associated Siri improvements, are now influencing Apple’s plans in this area.

Apple’s HomePod currently sufferers from its reliance on Siri to control it. With Siri not able to understand instructions as well as might be hoped, some HomePod users choose instead to interface with the device via an iPhone, but this can be a drain on the iPhone battery. Incorporating a screen would allow users to interface with the HomePod via its display. However, with Siri set to become more ‘intelligent’ thanks to Apple Intelligence, the need for this screen to interface with the devices may be reduced. What other plans could Apple have for a smart screen on a HomePod – or any other devices for that matter?

In this article, we will keep track of all the developments and rumors about these new HomeHub products, which could start arriving before the end of 2025. 

What are Apple’s HomeHub products?

In Gurman’s 2021 report he discussed two products:

A product that fuses the HomePod and Apple TV with a camera that could be used for video conferencing via the TV screen. (Think Google Nest Hub and Amazon Echo Show competitor.) This FaceTime Apple TV set-top box combo, was again rumored in January 2023.

A product that combines an iPad with a HomePod and a camera on a robotic arm that could follow the user around the room during a video chat. (Think Facebook Portal). According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in August 2024, this device, code-named J595, will use a thin robotic arm to control a large display, with actuators that allow it to spin 360 degrees or tilt up and down. Gurman’s sources say the device is envisioned as a “smart home command center, videoconferencing machine, and remote-controlled home security tool.” 

Since Gurman’s report in 2021 the following related products have also been referred to:

In January 2023 Gurman wrote again of Apple’s plans to take on the smart home market this time with a low-end iPad that will be used to control smart-home systems such as heating and lights and to make FaceTime video calls. This device, codenamed J490, will combine an iPad-like screen with smart-home controls to control smart-home systems such as heating and lights and make FaceTime video calls.

In the same report, Gurman claimed Apple also plans to launch a number of larger smart-home displays. Is the Apple Television not dead after all?

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 crossover 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 team of several hundred people working on a new home device.

In July 2024, code was discovered referring to new a device identified as “HomeAccessory17,1.” This could relate to the HomePod, which Apple refers to as “AudioAccessory”. There were also references discovered to a variant of tvOS, similar to what the HomePod runs.

The tvOS 17.4 beta back in February 2024 also referenced a device codenamed Z314 that featured an A15 chip and ran tvOS. Both the HomePod and Apple TV already run tvOS. According to a 9to5Mac report, hangtracerd (which is used to debug unresponsive UIs) has also been added to the HomePod version of tvOS 17.4, a big indication that there will be a HomePod with a display – although tvOS 17.4 arrived without the accompaniment of a new HomePod.

In October 2023 ‘Kotsutami’ posted (in a since-deleted tweet) an image of what they claimed to be a prototype of the next HomePod with “different glass” for the display at the top (which could be used as a touchscreen).

An Engineering build HomePod frameshell with a completely different glass on top- it’s set for touchscreen, with black bezelThe design of shell is similar to HomePod 2nd gen’s, not the 1st gen—it stands  might decided add