A brand-new HomePod–complete with a display plus Apple Intelligence under the hood–might be coming sooner than we think.
There’s been a flurry of HomePod rumors in the past week or so, and we’re not just talking pie-in-the-sky chatter about a screen-equipped HomePod that might arrive sometime in the next decade.
This time, the rumors are getting a lot more concrete, with timelines that can be measured in months rather than years.
This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart speakers.
Much of the buzz is coming from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and his latest “Power On” newsletter, while 9to5Mac has been doing plenty of its own sleuthing.
Here are the six main bullet points we’ve distilled from the latest round of rumors about a HomePod with a screen, starting with…
The display-equipped HomePod could run on a new OS
There’s long been chatter about “homeOS,” a new smart-home focused OS that would power Apple’s future HomePods, and Gurman is reporting once again that the rumored HomePod will run on the new operating system.
Not only is homeOS said to be based on tvOS, the software platform running under the hood of the Apple TV, but the two OSs may eventually merge into one, Gurman says.
According to 9to5Mac, the new HomePod will have a “squarish” display that’s “optimized” for smart home control.
Apps like Calendar, Notes, and Home will run on the revamped HomePod, but think widgets rather than full-on apps, 9to5Mac reports.
In other words, we could be talking about an interface that’s similar to iOS’s StandBy mode.
The new HomePod could have a built-in camera that recognizes faces
Unsurprisingly, the rumored new HomePod is said to come with a built-in camera for FaceTime.
But 9to5Mac adds that the camera will have other tricks up its sleeves, including the ability to recognize not only gestures but also individual faces.
That functionality brings to mind the Google Nest Hub Max, which responds to hand gestures picked up by its integrated lens (a “high-five” gesture can pause and resume your tunes, for example).
The Nest Hub Max’s camera can also recognize individual faces (good for offering responses tailored to the user) and even detect when you’re looking at it, allowing you to speak with Google Assistant without saying the “Hey Google” wake words.
The new HomePod will likely support Apple Intelligence
Plenty of current HomePod owners (myself included) were grousing after learning that Apple Intelligence wouldn’t be coming to the smart speaker, but the story will be different for the new HomePod—or at least, so we’re being told.
Bloomberg’s Gurman reports that Apple Intelligence will, indeed, be supported on the revamped HomePod, while 9to5Mac adds that an A18 chip (which powers the latest crop of AI-enabled iPhones) will be under the hood.
The upcoming HomePod won’t be the one with a robotic arm
One of the wilder HomePod rumors of recent months was that Cupertino was working on a tabletop HomePod with a robotic arm that would allow its screen to pivot a full 360 degrees, similar to the latest Amazon Echo Show 10.
Pretty cool, but the HomePod-with-an-arm isn’t the HomePod model that’s (supposedly) coming the soonest.
Instead, the new HomePod that’s at the center of the current buzz will be a “lower-end companion” to the arm-equipped HomePod, with the later costing north of $1,000, according to Bloomberg’s Gurman.
Apple could announce the new HomePod as soon as next spring
Here’s where things really get interesting, with 9to5Mac saying that the revamped, AI-packing iPad might arrive during Apple’s spring 2025 event.
Apple held its spring 2004 event in May, showing off a series of new iPads.
Of course, there’s no guarantee that Apple would stick to that timing for a new HomePod launch, but the prevailing wisdom does seem to be that a HomePod with a screen will debut sometime in 2025.
In other words, this whole HomePod-with-display talk is starting to feel real. Stay tuned.
