Apple's Upcoming Smart Home Accessory Could Feature 'Squarish' Display

[citysnaps]

Loving the comments here! It's like "Deja Vu all over again" going back 23 years! (quote credit to Yogi Bera)

iPod: Who needs a thousand songs in your pocket? (a dig on Steve Jobs' iPod release presentation)
iPhone: Who asked for a non-mechanical keyboard? Flop!
iPad: It's just a big iPhone! Who needs it?
Watch: If I need to know the time, I'll just look at my iPhone!
AirPods: Miniature feminine hygiene products hanging out of your ears isn't a good look. Flop.

 

[bayportbob]

I did not realize it was April 1st...

 

[bayportbob]

Reminds me of this...which I still regret not buying this for $35 bucks a thrift store a few years ago! (It was pretty yellowed though)

View attachment 2428648

the plastic ice cube Mac needs a comeback with a screen attached too.....

 

[n-cholas]

It feels like there is some big piece of information missing from this rumor. Like others have said the description doesn't make sense. A home hub style device for HomeKit could be really great. But essentially an iPad on a stick shoved into a HomePod? Even with some of Apple's really bad design choices, that doesn't sound like something they would ship.

It all ties in with Apple Intelligence. It’s been in the pipeline this long because AI has too, along with the evolution of the iPad and the iPhone’s camera technology.

The robotic arm concept is ridiculous, the form factor would be so prone to accidents etc.

My bet is a large minimalist wall mounted UHD TV with all of the AppleTV hardware invisibly built in and an awesome telescopic camera so it can zoom in on the person speaking no matter where they stand.

 

[routine_analyst]

Combine the idea of Airport basestation but with Wifi 6/Mesh and the HomePod... stick a removable magnetic gimbal arm attachment on top that MagSafe clips to back of an iPad. All in one HomeKit basestation. Place smaller HomePods with airport wifi as extenders around house. Now you have whole home network and Siri. Tim Cook asleep at the wheel.

 

[F23]

already has more innovation than the iPhone 16 Pro

 

[Jamie0003]

Let's make this simple for Apple. The Echo Show 10 is £260 in the UK. Anything more than £300 and they are wasting their time. But it will be £499.

Original HomePod says hi

 

[floydbot]

Apple is rumored to be working on a sort of iPad-like smart display that will serve as a home hub for controlling your HomeKit and Matter devices. We've been hearing rumors about the device for the last couple of years, and now there's some new information about its potential design.

Called the "HomeAccessory" internally, the upcoming smart home device has a "squarish display," according to 9to5Mac. The square display would make the product distinct from an iPad, which has a more rectangular display. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has previously described the smart home hub as "iPad-like" with features adopted from the iPad, HomePod, and the Apple TV, but he's also described a separate HomePod with a screen, which seems to be simpler.

9to5Mac claims it is unclear whether the square design will make it into the final product, which also seems to have a built-in camera for FaceTime. The device includes a camera that is able to identify hand gestures from afar, and it can tell one person apart from another for personalized requests. While it can run apps and play media like the Apple TV, it will also serve as an AirPlay receiver like the HomePod.

MacRumors spotted signs of the HomeAccessory in Apple's backend code earlier this year. It is a product that is distinct from Apple's other home devices, the Apple TV and the HomePod. It seems to run a variant of tvOS much like the HomePod, and the test version we've seen described is equipped with an A18 chip, so there is a possibility that it might not be too far off from launching.

With an A18 chip or later, Apple's smart home product would be able to run Apple Intelligence features, and it would support the smarter Siri that Apple plans to introduce in 2025. Prior rumors have said that it will debut in 2025 at the earliest, and 9to5Mac says it could come next spring.

Article Link: Apple's Upcoming Smart Home Accessory Could Feature 'Squarish' Display

What will this thing do that my iPad can't?

 

[jz0309]

Loving the comments here! It's like "Deja Vu all over again" going back 23 years! (quote credit to Yogi Bera)

iPod: Who needs a thousand songs in your pocket? (a dig on Steve Jobs' iPod release presentation)
iPhone: Who asked for a mechanical keyboard? Flop!
iPad: It's just a big iPhone! Who needs it?
Watch: If I need to know the time, I'll just look at my iPhone!
AirPods: Miniature feminine hygiene products hanging out of your ears isn't a good look. Flop.

so, help me understand use cases for this, in a household of 2 with 2 iPhones, 3 iPads, 2 AppleTVs, 0 (zero) HomePods and zero home automation equipment?
Is there a use case for that scenario??

 

[mozumder]

If it's meant to be a home controller then it shouldn't be mobile at all. You wouldn't want a critical device like that to get knocked over or cable accidentally unplugged, etc..

It should be a permanently attached device on the wall like the Nest or EcoBee or security system pad.

 

[DotCom2]

If Apple really wants to be the company of everyone's center digital world, they really have to re-address their pricing model.

 

[norbinhouston]

Anything is better than a display on top, horizontally mounted. I mean you can't interface with it unless you're right on top. This is one of those silly designs by Jony Ive that apple should do away with (the current HomePods).

 

[Spock]

MagSafe on the iPad mini with a HomePod magnetic dock. When the iPad is docked using MagSafe it goes to a HomePod user interface and the HomePod can work without a docked iPad.

 

[norbinhouston]

What will this thing do that my iPad can't?

It can be centrally located and permanently plugged in?

 

[matt_and_187_like_this]

We want AR not some gimmick that would have been cool in 2010.

 

[citysnaps]

so, help me understand use cases for this, in a household of 2 with 2 iPhones, 3 iPads, 2 AppleTVs, 0 (zero) HomePods and zero home automation equipment?
Is there a use case for that scenario??

It depends upon what it can do. I'd wait until Apple releases it before passing judgement and dissing it.

Based on history many people on forums believe Apple is stupid and out of touch with their customers. And are always proven wrong. It's like some people insist on keeping their imagination safely tucked away in a lock box.

I can think of some interesting uses and applications - probably having a lot to do with Apple's AI effort.

But then... I'm not in the camp who believes Apple is stupid, that TC needs to go, and are just winging their way to developing and releasing yet another a successful product by simply getting lucky.

 

[CrysisDeu]

I honestly don’t understand why a smart speaker needs a display. Isn’t the idea of a smart speaker to be “voice interaction”?

And for a smart home hub, why couldn’t they just integrate this into the ios/mac os control center and in Vision Pro. I don’t want to walk up to an ipad on the wall if I have smart devices.

 

[tkaravou]

so, help me understand use cases for this, in a household of 2 with 2 iPhones, 3 iPads, 2 AppleTVs, 0 (zero) HomePods and zero home automation equipment?
Is there a use case for that scenario??

How about we wait until we find out what it actually is before we judge it on this ****** render and zero information?

 

[Sippincider]

Ok I know Tim isn't a product guy and can't be everywhere at once, but this is the kind of silliness and culture the CEO needs to keep rooted out.

(This as a concept exercise deep in the R&D labs? Sure! But as something progressing towards an actual product?? Where's the adult to dope slap things back to reality?)

 

[springsup]

This feels like a product that won’t get significant sales, will go years without updates, and then be silently dropped.

You can just tell, sometimes.

I’d much rather Apple built a wireless charging dock for the iPad. It could use the existing Smart Connector for charging and audio.

 

[jz0309]

It depends upon what it can do. I'd wait until Apple releases it before passing judgement and dissing it.

Based on history many people on forums believe Apple is stupid and out of touch with their customers. And are always proven wrong. It's like some people insist on keeping their imagination safely tucked away in a lock box.

I can think of some interesting uses and applications - probably having a lot to do with Apple's AI effort.

But then... I'm not in the camp who believes Apple is stupid, that TC needs to go, and are just winging their way to developing and releasing yet another a successful product by simply getting lucky.

I agree 100% re forum users and the overall "tone" that MR has taken ...

and yes, we do not know anything about this thing and the rumors suggest it is for some home automation control. If that turns out to be it, I have no interest as I personally have no interest in anything home control.

But, Apple is doomed if you didn't know that already /s

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

Amazon and Google had a bit of a moment (about five years ago) selling these smart display things.

Seems like Apple is about to arrive at the party way too late. Everybody left, nobody even remembers who Alexa is.

 

[ApAx]

How would folks have any interest in this when you can do this on an iPad?

Maybe the same people who, for 17 years, could not manage to take a photo using the touch screen and gave us the iPhone camera button?

 

[erihp]

I’m hoping that it’s a dedicated Home Hub, with an A18 for Apple Intelligence. If you have one, it becomes the default hub and “upgrades” all your HomePods to have AI also (all AI processing would be done on the AppleHub, with requests routed from the HomePods). That would be awesome and a day one buy!!

great but what are the 'ai' uses cases of homekit?

 

[citysnaps]

I agree 100% re forum users and the overall "tone" that MR has taken ...

and yes, we do not know anything about this thing and the rumors suggest it is for some home automation control. If that turns out to be it, I have no interest as I personally have no interest in anything home control.

But, Apple is doomed if you didn't know that already /s

Whatever it is... I think it'll be very strongly AI focused helping family members with their everyday lives in many different ways. In a manner that goes far beyond what will be available in iPhone and other Apple devices. It will be a hub, of sorts. The display will be for displaying information/results and interacting with users.

And it will look *nothing like* the iMac G4 from 2000 that seems to be used in every story, and that many here seem to enjoy latching on to in order to bolster their Apple doesn't know what they're doing, that Tim ins't a "product guy" trope, etc, etc..