Apple May Launch First iPad-Like Smart Home Accessory Next Year

[JippaLippa]

They're spreading too thin...
Instead of more and more pieces of hardware that'll have to be maintained with yet more botched Operative Systems that'll be buggy as hell, they'd be much better off focusing on their core products.

 

[TonyC28]

Apple has the necessary smarthome hardware in place already. What’s needed is a smart way of controlling it all, meaning Siri needs to get smarter and more artificially intelligent. For example, “Siri, turn on the landscaping lights every night 15 minutes before sunset.”
“Siri, when I arrive home on Friday nights between 11pm and midnight, turn on the kitchen lights for 30 minutes, then turn them off.”
“Siri, slowly the dim the living room lights between 6 and 8pm, with them turning off at 8.”

Just some examples, but we need smarts, not an iPad and HomePod glued together.

 

[Churchman]

My patellar reflex to this article is - to me… I repeat, to me - that Apple feels like it is in the initial stages of becoming like Steve Ballmer’s MSFT.

Half baked vision goggles… half baked Apple Intelligence that is being released in .1 /.2 /.3 phases through 2025 rather than all at once because Apple has not finished baking it - and this is supposed to replace Siri after 13 years of being lacking as an AI assistant…. An iPhone 16 that analysts are saying will sell fewer units than 15…. A guy above saying his home pod does not recognize his voice half the time…. Apple is about to release an M4 chip into Macs (yay!!!) while some Macs are still being sold with just M2 chips today (boo!)…

That’s the kind of stuff that feels very MSFT / Steve Ballmer.

What is Apple’s corporate vision now for consumers products? It’s beginning to feel more and more like the vision and product strategy are becoming “let’s just release X though it’s not done and though it’s not awesome. Let’s see if the customers will bite. Then we’ll release whatever widget is on that table there, unless the tech wind blows a different way tomorrow.”

I am hoping that the Ballmer philosophy at MSFT that gave us the memorable MSFT phone (what was it called) and the Zune is not beginning to infect Apple and Tim Cook.

 

[steve09090]

Ah the hate on something that is rumoured and not even a thing.

 

[Isamilis]

Apple could release an iPad-like smart home accessory based on its homeOS platform as early as next year, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

Writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman reports that the display will run Apple apps like Calendar, Notes, and Home, and will feature an interface "optimized for controlling home appliances and quickly seeing information."

Apple's existing Apple TV and HomePod lineup already offer home hub functionality, but crucially lack the hardware to run AI models. In contrast, Apple Intelligence will be central to the new home accessory, which is actually a "lower-end companion" to a $1,000+ robotic device for the home, writes Gurman.

Similar devices have been rumored for some time. Prototype designs are said to have resembled a HomePod with a screen (magnetically attaching to walls or sitting atop a desk), and an iPad-like display mounted on a robotic arm. Both accessories are said to be collaborations between Apple's AI and home device hardware engineering groups.

Backend code discovered by MacRumors in January suggested that Apple was continuing work on a homeOS platform, as a variant of tvOS. Another code reference finding in June subsequently confirmed the existence of at least one unreleased home accessory.

More recently, 9to5Mac has claimed that the lower-end smart home device features a "squarish display", an A18 chip, and a built-in camera for FaceTime. The device apparently supports AirPlay, is able to identify hand gestures from afar, and can tell one person apart from another for personalized requests‌. 9to5Mac says Apple could release the home product as early as next spring.

Article Link: Apple May Launch First iPad-Like Smart Home Accessory Next Year

I am afraid the story will be like Apple Vision Pro.

 

[gk_brown]

If it's a HomePod with a screen, yes. iPad on a stand, no.

 

[istgradfrompsu]

I took my 1st gen iPad Pro 11” and turned it into my smart home hub. Does everything I need it to do.

 

[J___o___h___n]

And when it’s overpriced Apple will silently abandon it like AirPods Max

Nah, new AirPod Max colours are due out in 4 years. New Space Grey, Space Silver, Jet Black and Natural Silver and off-white. 😆

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Why make an entire new device category, if you can just use existing iPads. For example an older model. To do exactly the same thing?

Where's the "another record quarter..." in such thinking? That's not the AAPL way.

 

[segfaultdotorg]

Can't wait for the iHome Pro!

 

[lenningj]

Just another device to take up room.

 

[kyjaotkb]

i have an Echo Show 10 that was given to me by a contact at Amazon and it's the most terrible idea for a product. A distracting screen, a creepy presence (this one is extra creepy as it rotates to follow you in the room), and the screen does nothing more than what the voice provides.

 

[Hopefully Smarter]

this tech catefgory has imploded. And Apple doesn’t have the magic sauce to make this a profitable sector.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Which will cost far too much, sell 100 units and be binned shortly thereafter. Apple can’t even get a simple smart speaker to sell well. Focus on that first.

The problem with the smart speaker was two things.

First, they launched it right when the wave of interest in those things was starting to wane anyway. Even Amazon is now acting like they regret it.

Second, Siri sucks. And somehow it sucks the MOST on HomePod, the one device where it is the main feature.

IF Apple really properly fixes Siri and makes it something people really want to use, AND make an affordable useful device, I could see it doing ok.

But they already have a smart speaker, and iPad, and a TV connection. I don't see what this would really add that couldn't be done with a combination of those. And that combination would be more flexible and make Apple more money.

 

[citysnaps]

Excellent!

I'm looking forward to Apple's homeOS device. No doubt in my mind it'll be a very successful product.

 

[citysnaps]

Ah the hate on something that is rumoured and not even a thing.

Sadly, that's become the norm. Seems it's always a race to the bottom of negativity on how a new Apple device will flop. iPod, iPhone, iPad, Watch, AirPods, etc come to mind. All flops.

 

[wanha]

another OS incoming?

another iOS variant incoming like TVOS, iPadOS, and WatchOS before

 

[wanha]

Apple could unveil Jarvis from the Iron Man movies and folks here would moan about what a flop it will be

 

[wanha]

I get Apple Car v2.0 vibes hearing about Apple robotics.
i am afraid what Apple robot will NOT do if Siri is an example. It probably can’t remember its own name

so.... Apple should try nothing new?

 

[AppleTO]

Apple could release an iPad-like smart home accessory

So… an iPad with heavy restrictions? I mean, what else would it be?

I have a bunch of smart home apps, but I’ve never bothered with the actual “Home” app or Siri. I don’t think most of them even support it.

 

[MacAttack2024]

HomePod, VisionPro, and this…1 and done examples. Concerned Apple is just focusing on a product without really understanding what the market needs are or how enter the segment to last.

 

[Kay_Ess]

I’d like something like this but probably can’t afford it. I don’t like having to get my phone out or go to my pc to do stuff with Home Assistant but I’m not gonna pay a thousand bucks for an iPad. For a hundred bucks I might be interested if it gets a Home Assistant app but I’m not sure what Apple could add for my use cases. I mean, I can already set timers with my phone and watch so Siri won’t be of added value and AI so far sounds a little overrated.

We’ll see. I don’t hate the ideas so far per se.

 

[macjaffa]

Congrats youve just invented the shared family computer circa 1996, except with no cd rom drive. Give it a few more years and we will move past this phase and all be having our personal computer systems that we may even be able to carry about in our own pockets. Incredible stuff Tim, yes it is, how do you come up with this stuff.

 

[stevemiller]

They're spreading too thin...
Instead of more and more pieces of hardware that'll have to be maintained with yet more botched Operative Systems that'll be buggy as hell, they'd be much better off focusing on their core products.

its no longer about whether something is good, but whether it has the optics of growth. line must go up (even if in reality everything is going down)

 

[victorvictoria]

"Apple's existing Apple TV and HomePod lineup already offer home hub functionality, but crucially lack the hardware to run AI models."

Well, why not incorporate that hardware into them? Why do I need a fourth device (I have a HomePod and two Apple TVs) to do the same thing these already do? What do I need a screen for? And where am I supposed to locate it?