While the just-announced HomePod 2 may not be Apple’s most exciting launch, it seems much more evolution than revolution, but the company reportedly has even more exciting smart devices in the pipeline. Apple is working on a “slate” of new smart home devices, according to a new one Bloomberg report (opens in new tab).
People familiar with the plans suggest that the first fruit of this work will be a “low-end iPad” designed to control HomeKit smart products like thermostats and lights, stream video, and facilitate FaceTime chats. Essentially an Apple version of the Amazon Echo Show (pictured) and Google Nest Hub. The report continues to say that this smart display will have magnetic mounts that will allow users to attach it to a wall, positioning it more as a static device for the home than a portable companion.
It’s been almost a year Bloomberg first reported on the prospect of “new speakers with screens and cameras,” and while this new report from Mark Gurman establishes the likelihood of such a device, the expected release date isn’t until next year. You never know, that timeline could even put it in contention for an Apple-made Micro LED display.
The 2024 roadmap also apparently includes a new Apple TV streamer upgraded with a faster processor, while development of an intriguing all-in-one Apple TV, HomePod and FaceTime camera device, the report says, “still is underway”.
If Apple really dives deeper into the smart home realm, as it seems, 2024 could be a productive period of Apple-branded smart device launches. After all, the company is quite behind Google in terms of smart hardware, with no displays, cameras or doorbells – or anything “smart” outside of the HomePods and Apple TV really – to its credit. Since we arrived late to the smart speaker market with the HomePod in 2018, you might not mind catching up here.
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