For years, it has been rumored that Apple has been developing upcoming concepts for the smart home ecosystem, and it looks like we may not need to wait that long for one of Apple’s first smart home products. According to Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, he expects Apple to launch an all-new smart home display, to be powered by Apple Intelligence, as soon as March 2025. The product overall will look akin to an iPad, but the display will measure approximately six inches along the diagonal, and it will have a more square-ish ratio, similar to displays from the classic iPad designs (those before the 2018 iPad Pro). The built-in features for this aforementioned device include a built-in camera for FaceTime and other videoconferencing apps, internal speakers for music playback, and a built-in rechargeable battery.
Now, you may think, that sounds like an iPad to me. What would be the difference? Well, it’s going to incorporate a lot of more home-centric features that you may not find on an iPad. First, it’s going to have an entirely new, optimized operating system that may be based on tvOS. Visually speaking, it’s going to look like a hybrid of iPhone’s Standby mode and watchOS, so while the icons and buttons may appear larger than on an iPad, the main user input will be through voice control. This will go with the fact that every major Apple product has a distinct form of input – Mac with mouse/trackpad, iPad/iPhone with touch, Apple Watch with Digital Crown, and Vision Pro with eye/hand tracking. Furthermore, the home screen will be further customizable with the most essential widgets for the smart home such as weather, calendar appointments, and even slideshows.
As Apple has been pushing Apple Intelligence across all of its latest devices, Apple will indeed integrate its breakthrough AI features into this smart home device. Additionally, this device will incorporate even more built-in sensors for a much more dynamic experience. For example, the camera may feature depth-tracking and attention-awareness features to track how close the person is to the device such that it will show essential information.
While, Apple may incorporate many built-in apps you’ll find in iPhone and iPad such as Safari, Apple News, and Apple Music, Apple will not launch a dedicated App Store for that device. So with all of those features above, Apple is planning to market this smart display as a “command center”, which will leverage Apple into the smart home market even further, competing with other smart home products such as the Echo Hub and Nest Hub Max from Amazon and Google, respectively. However, in order to compete well, Apple will have to price this device at a more competitive price point, maybe around $200. Apple is planning to launch this product in silver and black, similar to how Apple offers two colors (white and midnight) for the HomePod. And similar to HomePod, while this smart display will be a standalone device, it will require at least an iPhone for setting up.
Down the road, Gurman indicates that Apple plans to launch a more advanced, robotic device for the smart home hub, similar in form to the iconic iMac G4. Whenever Apple launches the said device, the future of the smart home market looks promising for Apple.
