Home Hub Code Hints at Face-Based Profile Switching

[Happy_John]

Can someone help me understand who the target audience for a device like this is? And what's it's purpose?

I already have HomePods, which can play music. My partner and I can both control it from our iPhones. If someone rings our doorbell, I can look at my iPhone. I don't know why I would want to get up and go to the screen to see who is here. Plus, I have AppleTV.

What problem does this solve (i.e., why should I give Apple my money)?

Your HomePod minis don’t just play music, they also can act as a hub ( think of it like a manager or controller ) for smart lights, smart plug etc - devices in your home. Think of it like a router.

since the changes in HomeKit, you need an AppleTV, a HomePod mini or this new device to link and manage some HomeKit devices.

So that’s the back end. The front end is what you’re using to control and manage - using an iPhone, iPad or a Watch as the user interface.

But this device will presumably allow multiple users, whereas an iPhone or an iPad doesn’t. So different users can use this device but keep their settings and data inaccessible to other users ( like a “child” account on an iPhone.

Do you need this device? If you already have HomePod minis and all users have their own iPhones or iPads, then no.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Can someone help me understand who the target audience for a device like this is? And what's it's purpose?

I already have HomePods, which can play music. My partner and I can both control it from our iPhones. If someone rings our doorbell, I can look at my iPhone. I don't know why I would want to get up and go to the screen to see who is here. Plus, I have AppleTV.

What problem does this solve (i.e., why should I give Apple my money)?

No one is telling you you have to give Apple your money, however, I think it’s interesting that all of these takes are coming from the same group of people who insist that single use devices need to make a comeback, like iPods and airport routers.
For controlling a smart home, yes, of course, iPads and iPhones will do the trick.
However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that there isn’t a market for a device specifically dedicated to this task.
I don’t know about anyone here, but it’s not every single second that I’m in my home that I have my iPhone on me.
Being able to control smart home equipment from a central device you can stick in the kitchen or on the nightstand or on the wall makes a lot of sense to me.
Having one central location in the home that anyone, no matter who they may be, if they have an iPhone or not, no matter what time it is, can go to to control all of the smart home devices seems pretty essential for any smart homes that have a lot of people in them.

 

[Happy_John]

No one is telling you you have to give Apple your money, however, I think it’s interesting that all of these takes are coming from the same group of people who insist that single use devices need to make a comeback, like iPods and airport routers.
For controlling a smart home, yes, of course, iPads and iPhones will do the trick.
However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that there isn’t a market for a device specifically dedicated to this task.
I don’t know about anyone here, but it’s not every single second that I’m in my home that I have my iPhone on me.
Being able to control smart home equipment from a central device you can stick in the kitchen or on the nightstand or on the wall makes a lot of sense to me.
Having one central location in the home that anyone, no matter who they may be, if they have an iPhone or not, no matter what time it is, can go to to control all of the smart home devices seems pretty essential for any smart homes that have a lot of people in them.

No, there is a market for it.

But what there might not be a market for an expensive multi-user device when all users already have appropriate single-user devices.

The issue will be the price point.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

And let’s be honest $350 (minimum) for HomePod 3 and that thing won’t have a screen.

This homepad will cost minimum $700 and who is wanting to buy that when you could stereo pair Siri AI.

Extra expense for a single speaker with a screen. Something our phones and 5 year old iPads have already?

Unless it can pack the speaker performance of two full sized HomePods into one device it might end up being a niche device being crammed into a smart speaker / assistant market that already peaked with the Alexa’s?

All of this logic falls apart when you consider that the regular HomePod was discontinued in 2021, and not brought back until 2023, with significantly worse compromised sound quality.
My personal theory is that the regular HomePod is more than likely dead, and this screen that swivels on a speaker is very likely the replacement.
Between the full-size HomePod, the Google assistant Max, $400 speaker, the complete no-show that was the Samsung Galaxy speaker, has proven that sound quality doesn’t exactly sell smart speakers.
And it’s very likely that Apple has picked up on this lesson.
I think products like the Echo show have taught all of these companies that when it comes to smart home products, people would much rather have a stationary iPad like screen for their kitchen and living room, than they would a big hi-fi over-engineered $400 screenless speaker.
I also have absolutely no idea where you are getting your cost estimates from, this thing is very likely going to be priced somewhere around $300. I believe at one point Mark Gurman was throwing around $249 to $349 as the most likely price bracket.

 

[apull]

I use hope this is a sign Apple is going to stop phoning it in with HomeKit. That system is a mess. I should not have to use Homebridge and Scrypted to make all my stuff work.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

No, there is a market for it.

But what there might not be a market for is an expensive multi-user device when all users already have appropriate single-user devices.

The issue will be the price point.

The price point that has been rumored about by Mark and those type has been between $249 to $349.
My guess is that it’s more than likely, probably $249 for the wall-mounted version, and $349 to $399 for the big speaker dock version

 

[Reason077]

Hoping some of this can be overridden. For me, much of the point of this would be to let guests and kids control lights and other HomeKit devices in an easy and intuitive manner without layers of BS

I'm sure it will work this way by default. User profiles are there for personalised content, ie if you ask Siri something specific to your personal calendar or whatever.

iPads should really have been doing this for the past decade or so, IMO.

 

[JohnC1959]

Interesting. I was just wondering about this yesterday. I wasn't sure if they'd have user specific profiles or some generic family one. The face ID sounds like it could work well and could be helpful for younger kids to use it as well. Time will tell how well it really works.

 

[Reason077]

Can someone help me understand who the target audience for a device like this is? And what's it's purpose?

For me it's something that will mount on the wall and act as a simple, central hub to control smart devices in your home. Turn on lights, adjust HVAC, etc.

 

[Reason077]

Why does this look like a $7 Chinese Amazon tablet stand at the base?

Because it's just an imaginative rendering made up by MacRumors. Not the actual product.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

So facial recognition in a $300-400 or so device but not on on the $2000 foldable, lame, and yes, I've heard it before that FaceID does supposedly not fit in the fold but that is simply lame

Physics is lame. 🙁

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Can someone help me understand who the target audience for a device like this is? And what's it's purpose?

I already have HomePods, which can play music. My partner and I can both control it from our iPhones. If someone rings our doorbell, I can look at my iPhone. I don't know why I would want to get up and go to the screen to see who is here. Plus, I have AppleTV.

What problem does this solve (i.e., why should I give Apple my money)?

People with money that believe this is a thing they want. I guess one can always assume that’s the target audience for any Apple device. 🙂 What’s it’s purpose? No idea. But, if people must have some kind of device (AppleTV/HomePod/HomePod mini and there are billions of people that don’t have any of those) and they’re just getting into the whole Apple smart home thing, I’d guess it could just be a higher dollar replacement for one of those.

 

[jz0309]

Physics is lame. 🙁

If an iPad Pro can have FaceID ...
And it's not that physics is lame, Apple is making compromises that are lame.

 

[Happy_John]

The price point that has been rumored about by Mark and those type has been between $249 to $349.
My guess is that it’s more than likely, probably $249 for the wall-mounted version, and $349 to $399 for the big speaker dock version

Yes, that’s why I keep saying that and his would be something with a decent market if it is priced between a HomePod mini and a base iPad. If it’s priced abbé the base iPad, it’s just not compelling enough. Then you might as well buy a fully functional iPad, create a new account, connect it to a “family”, and use that as your controller.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Extra expense for a single speaker with a screen. Something our phones and 5 year old iPads have already?

I think people forget how huge the number of people that don’t have old Apple devices are. The number of people without 5 year old iPads is massively outnumbered by the number of people that don’t have 5 year old iPads. Or any iPad at all.

 

[Happy_John]

If an iPad Pro can have FaceID ...
And it's not that physics is lame, Apple is making compromises that are lame.

Not if it is currently physically impossible to put the FaceID component within the width and f one side of a thin foldable phone.

Technology is not magical.

Google “believe in the bin”. It’s the same logic.

 

[JohnC1959]

If an iPad Pro can have FaceID ...
And it's not that physics is lame, Apple is making compromises that are lame.

The problem is a matter of the FaceID module being too thick for a thin laptop display. Because the iPad also has the thickness of all electronics and a battery, it has room (depth) for the module.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

If an iPad Pro can have FaceID ...
And it's not that physics is lame, Apple is making compromises that are lame.

Is an iPad Pro less than 5mm thick? I haven’t seen FaceID on anything thinner than 5mm. Even on the air, which has a main body thickness of 5.6mm, the FaceID hardware is in a section of the phone that’s 9.5mm thick.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Not if it is currently physically impossible to put the FaceID component within the width and f one side of a thin foldable phone.

Technology is not magical.

Google “believe in the bin”. It’s the same logic.

My car can have 4 wheel drive, why not my bike?

 

[Vincent Hanna]

My biggest question is how the wall-mounted version is powered. Are you expected to run cabling down the wall to the outlet? That doesn’t sound very Apple-like, but even a battery that lasts several days is undesirable too.

 

[ignatius345]

I'm sure it will work this way by default. User profiles are there for personalised content, ie if you ask Siri something specific to your personal calendar or whatever.

iPads should really have been doing this for the past decade or so, IMO.

You can kind of approximate some of it by requiring biometrics to open specific apps. But then of course those apps are locked out for all but the primary user. Agree, it would be awesome to be able to switch to different profiles on the iPad -- or just use multiple user accounts like you can on the Mac.

 

[ignatius345]

Why does this look like a $7 Chinese Amazon tablet stand at the base?

By "this" you mean the loose rendering based entirely on speculation? Yeah, it does look like a cheap Amazon tablet stand, but it's also not real in any way.

 

[JohnC1959]

My biggest question is how the wall-mounted version is powered. Are you expected to run cabling down the wall to the outlet? That doesn’t sound very Apple-like, but even a battery that lasts several days is undesirable too.

I can't see anyway around a power cord. You'd want to position it on a wall above an outlet and maybe use a decorative cord concealer on the wall down to the outlet. On a kitchen counter or such it may be simpler. I have a feeling the large majority would end up having it on a table/counter due to logistics including but not limited to the power.

 

[Happy_John]

I can't see anyway around a power cord. You'd want to position it on a wall above an outlet and maybe use a decorative cord concealer on the wall down to the outlet. On a kitchen counter or such it may be simpler. I have a feeling the large majority would end up having it on a table/counter due to logistics including but not limited to the power.

I’d guess it’ll be USB-C powered, either with a USB-C socket or, as with the HomePod mini, a fixed cable with a USB-C plug.

If it ends up being successful, some company will end up making a power a that matches the visual design, enabling it to be more portable.

 

[JohnC1959]

I’d guess it’ll be USB-C powered, either with a USB-C socket or, as with the HomePod mini, a fixed cable with a USB-C plug.

If it ends up being successful, some company will end up making a power a that matches the visual design, enabling it to be more portable.

While I'm sure someone will making a matching power supply, It really isn't a product generally moved about. We have phones and such for that. This is a central location where all family members can adjust home automation, check family calendars and such. It's partly to replace that whiteboard mounted on some peoples fridges.