Apple's HomePod With a Screen Delayed Until Next Year at the Earliest

[MacRumors]

Apple's project to design its first HomePod with a screen has been pushed back until next year at the earliest, as part of a series of cost-cutting measures and belt-tightening efforts to make its operations more efficient.

In his latest Power On newsletter, well-connected Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman suggested that delaying the device will allow Apple to allocate its research and development budget to more pressing projects, like mixed reality headsets.

The move is part of a strategy to contain costs that should enable the company to maintain an appearance of stability in an unstable economy and avoid the swingeing cutbacks and layoffs that have befallen other tech companies including Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.

Other moves to avoid layoffs are said to include delaying bonuses for corporate teams, pausing hiring on some teams, reining in budgets, and leaving roles open rather than filling them when people leave their positions.

The revised timing for the rumored HomePod product tallies with Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo's recent prediction that a redesigned HomePod with a 7-inch display will arrive in the first half of 2024.

In 2021, Gurman was first to suggest that Apple is working on new HomePods with displays and cameras. In the long term, Apple is believed to be rethinking its smart home strategy and is reportedly working on a combined Apple TV and HomePod device, as well as a HomePod with a screen mounted on a robotic arm.

Article Link: Apple's HomePod With a Screen Delayed Until Next Year at the Earliest

 

[WiiDSmoker]

All this supposed cost cutting yet customers won’t see any of it.

 

[ericwn]

Another home appliance with a success projection somewhere as low as the HomePod already was. Come on Apple, deliver bold products and not mishmash nonsense that fills niches.

 

[PineappleCake]

Of course it is...

Everything good is delayed. M3 chip and OLED iPads from Gurmans Timeline

 

[Kylo83]

Everything is delayed

 

[DeLaSoul]

I hope we have to charge it like we have to charge Magic Mouse

 

[dotnet]

In a few months’ time in Gurman’s alternate universe:

”New scoop – Apple cancelled HomePod with a Screen…!”

 

[Edsel]

I suspect Apple, Inc. will eventually become a 90% software focused company, leaving hardware for others to R&D and then produce.

 

[giggles]

We need a term for these so-called “delays” of stuff that was never announced in the first place and are actually delays only if compared to a fantasy timeline that was previously (sometimes only recently) rumored by the Rumors-Leaks Complex.

I propose “Schrödinger's delays”.

 

[pauloregan]

Here's a scoop. Apple never intended to make a HomePod with a ridiculous screen in it as Apple would never be that stupid.

 

[MacDevil7334]

I’m just not sure why I would want a HomePod with a screen. So I could see as well as hear Siri’s sub-par responses? FaceTime sure but who wants a FaceTime camera that stays plugged into a wall outlet and you can’t move?

 

[seek3r]

Another home appliance with a success projection somewhere as low as the HomePod already was. Come on Apple, deliver bold products and not mishmash nonsense that fills niches.

Tbh, of the list up there, I would love a homepod mini combined with an AppleTV. I have both in my living room right now and sometimes use the homepod to control the atv, it works… most of the time. And has a lot of lag when working. Also hps dont have wired ethernet, atvs do, I’d like to have homepods that do.

 

[syklee26]

I don't see the point of this device anyway. You put speakers far away from your sight; you don't put it right in front of you. You can't really see what's on the screen anyway, so why bother? Apple should work on improving Siri for HomePods, not betting on some gimmicky feature like this.

 

[seek3r]

I’m just not sure why I would want a HomePod with a screen. So I could see as well as hear Siri’s sub-par responses? FaceTime sure but who wants a FaceTime camera that stays plugged into a wall outlet and you can’t move?

The use case for a facetime device like that would be kitchens and such. My wife often facetimes with her sister in the mornings before work, while she’s getting her breakfast together. she pops her phone on the stand and sometimes sends the audio to the kitchen hp if she’s got noisy breakfast cooking going on. A device like that would be great for her. Another I can think of is small provider tele-health. One of my docs likes to use facetime when possible. He could have something like this on his desk (that said he uses his computer I think so no idea if this would really be useful there). Not sure uses like that are enough to sell a product that presumably would be in the $200-$250 range though.

 

[ashdelacroix]

The beancounters really are in charge. Remember, Apple is hugely profitable and extremely cash-rich.

 

[crsh1976]

I suspect Apple, Inc. will eventually become a 90% software focused company, leaving hardware for others to R&D and then produce.

Joke would sadly be on us as Apple is terrible at software, their strength has always been hardware design.

 

[karranz]

Apple should bring back Jony Ive and Scott Forstall ASAP.

 

[George Dawes]

Everything apart from Tim’s $50m bonus of course

 

[ericwn]

Tbh, of the list up there, I would love a homepod mini combined with an AppleTV. I have both in my living room right now and sometimes use the homepod to control the atv, it works… most of the time. And has a lot of lag when working. Also hps dont have wired ethernet, atvs do, I’d like to have homepods that do.

Sure if it can be blow me away state of the art replacing a home cinema solution, all for it. If it’s just a HomePod with an attached iPad, by all means, no thank you.

 

[Wando64]

That shape of screen is not going to happen. I’ll tell you that for free.

 

[ericwn]

Apple should bring back Jony Ive and Scott Forstall ASAP.

Yea if the HomePod needs one thing it’s the I’ve treatment: make it thin and remove all ports. Upon second consideration, HomePod is half way there already.

 

[seek3r]

Sure if it can be blow me away state of the art replacing a home cinema solution, all for it. If it’s just a HomePod with an attached iPad, by all means, no thank you.

I dont need it to be a home cinema personally, I’d even be fine with lower quality speaker than the hp mini, I just want the mic and siri response integrated properly into my atv

 

[newyorksole]

We need a term for these so-called “delays” of stuff that was never announced in the first place and are actually delays only if compared to a fantasy timeline that was previously (sometimes only recently) rumored by the Rumors-Leaks Complex.

I propose “Schrödinger's delays”.

I said it before lol, but I’ll say it again.

Why can’t something be delayed internally? If Apple planned to release it this year and can’t/won’t, then it’s still a delay even though it wasn’t announced publicly.

These rumors are oftentimes founded and aren’t pulled out of thin air. Not every single delay article or product rumor is fake…

 

[Jason2000]

Here's a scoop. Apple never intended to make a HomePod with a ridiculous screen in it as Apple would never be that stupid.

You have obviously never used an Echo with screen or Google Home Hub device. They are so much better than just a speaker especially for rooms like the kitchen/den/family room.

 

[ericwn]

I dont need it to be a home cinema personally, I’d even be fine with lower quality speaker than the hp mini, I just want the mic and siri response integrated properly into my atv

You could already consider an iPad as a mobile FaceTime and tv platform, or is that too bad from a sound perspective for you?