When Apple begun to market the HomePod mini in November 2020 the regular HomePod’s times were being numbered, and inevitably the much larger gadget was discontinued in March 2021. Nonetheless, there may perhaps nonetheless be a new HomePod in the foreseeable future – one outfitted with a display screen and combining attributes from other Apple gadgets.
In point there are rumors that a few new HomePods could be on the horizon.
Go through on to locate out what is in keep for the HomePod and how Apple is increasing its speaker, with rumors indicating that the future design could be more substantial, feature a display screen and present the means to host convention calls.
New HomePod: Release date
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo tweeted in May well 2022 that Apple’s functioning on a new HomePod for later this yr or early in 2023.
Kuo is not the only a person anticipating a new HomePod. A June 2022 Power On e-newsletter from Apple rumor monger Mark Gurman implies that we will not see a new HomePod in 2022, but Gurman does show that it could be 1 product of of a “deluge coming amongst the slide of 2022 and initial 50 percent of 2023.”
He wrote: “the company’s first combined-truth headset, minimal-finish and substantial-finish iPads, updated AirPods Professional earbuds, a fresh HomePod and an upgraded Apple Television set.”
So it’s possible that we could see a new HomePod in the spring of 2023.
Will this be the rumored HomePod with a display screen?
Will Apple make a HomePod with a display?
We truly feel that the absence of a display screen – and about-reliance on Siri – has been one of the most significant failings of the HomePod. We truly feel that a display would help people interact with the product as very well as open it up as a system for viewing other information, this kind of as YouTube films and news reports.
A Bloomberg report from Gurman back in April 2021 talked about Apple’s ideas for two foreseeable future Apple goods which do appear to suggest that Apple was at the very least thinking about producing a HomePod with a monitor. These rumored items incorporated:
- A product or service that fuses the HomePod and Apple Tv set with a digital camera that could be utilized for movie conferencing by using the Tv display screen.
- A product or service that combines a good speaker with a contact screen – it could incorporate an iPad with a HomePod and mount a digital camera on a robotic arm that could in fact stick to the person all-around the space in the course of a movie chat.
Go through additional about that Bloomberg report listed here: Apple setting up hybrid HomePod/Apple Television and HomePod/iPad merchandise. A second Bloomberg report from Gurman in May perhaps 2021 also talked about Apple’s options to so market these hybrid HomePod merchandise.
And in April 2022 Gurman referred to these designs once again, stating that Apple is “absolutely” even now doing the job on a new HomePod, which Gurman states will blend a HomePod, Apple Tv, and FaceTime camera into a solitary “combination product will in all probability be at the centre of Apple’s solution.”
If Apple does launch a HomePod with a screen it will enable the HomePod contend with products from Google and Amazon which have blended a speaker with a display for some time, these kinds of as the Amazon Echo Exhibit (you can purchase the Echo Exhibit 15 on Amazon US for $239.99 or Amazon United kingdom for £239.99.)
There are programs then, it would seem, for Apple to give the HomePod a monitor, maybe by combining it with an iPad or an Apple Tv set. The April 2021 Bloomberg report indicated that these two initiatives focused on combining the HomePod with other Apple goods are underway at Apple, but at that time they were only in the idea stage – it is mysterious if Apple is any nearer to building them a actuality.
For more ideas about how Apple may well reinvent the HomePod read: How the HomePod can be Apple’s new iPod: Enjoyment, preferred, and straightforward. As well as, Could Apple’s rumored HomePod really be a very small Studio Show?
New HomePod: Design and style
In accordance to Gurman’s June publication, the new HomePod will be a lot more like the initial HomePod – so count on one thing larger and with much better audio performance than the HomePod mini.
Though it is not regarded if this new HomePod will integrate a screen, as for every the rumor above, this new HomePod could have an current show on best, according to Gurman. The monitor might also have multi-touch operation.
As for the HomePod with a display screen, the April 2021 Bloomberg talked about a HomePod with a screen mounted on a robotic arm so that the digital camera could abide by you close to the space. To get an idea of how this could glance we need to have only look to the Amazon Echo Present 10, which brings together a display screen that moves instantly with Amazon’s speaker. The Echo Show 10 costs £239.99/$249.99. Purchase one particular listed here (British isles) and below (US).
Foundry / Jim Martin
Swiss web site Useful Abovergleich and designer Eric Huismann have developed a sequence of strategy illustrations of how this new era of HomePod could search. They have arrive up with thought models for two separate equipment: the HomePod Television (a mixture of the HomePod and the Apple Tv set) and the HomePod Demonstrate (a HomePod with a touchscreen display).
Here’s how they graphic the HomePod Present – a speaker with a camera and a touchscreen – could glimpse.
New HomePod: Spec & Attributes
In accordance to Gurman, the new HomePod, is code-named B620. Here’s what we can hope in phrases of specs and attributes:
Processor
Gurman indicates that the new HomePod will attribute the similar S8 chip that will arrive with the new Apple Look at 8, Apple Observe Professional and Apple Enjoy SE.
Camera
The new HomePod could feature a digicam, as is rumoured in the Bloomberg piece. With a digital camera included into the HomePod it would be feasible to participate in a online video meeting on the Television display screen.
A camera could also be utilised to recognise gestures. Some years ago a patent was filed that relevant to a potential HomePod that could interpret 3D hand gestures. See more on Patently Apple.
The patent describes a HomePod that can “interpret 3-dimensional hand gestures as a usually means of controlling the gadget so as to execute an motion or function.”
Multi-touch exhibit
Possibly not the exhibit we are hoping for, but a more interactive display than the 1 we have now. We’d like to see much more than just volume controls.
Will Apple merge HomePod and Apple Television?
Combining the HomePod and Apple Television set does seem like something that is remaining investigated by Apple. The Bloomberg report higher than mentions it, but that wasn’t the to start with indication that anything like this was prepared.
In April 2020 it emerged that Apple had switched the program on the HomePod from iOS to tvOS, according to a 9to5Mac report. Such a transfer makes it even easier to merge all those merchandise in the future.
What is much less evident is what Apple would realize by combining the HomePod and Apple Tv, people searching for audio advancements can by now use the HomePod as the audio output of their Apple Television set.
Swiss web page Helpful Abovergleich did appear up with an illustration of how this could possibly search. They get in touch with this just one the HomePod Television set – the bar below the Television set gets to be not only the hub for Television set, internet and sensible products, but also a seem process with help for standards this sort of as Dolby Atmos and Apple Lossless.
