Monday, November 11, 2024
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Rumor: a future HomePod could have an iPad attached via a robotic arm

In addition to reporting that Apple plans to combine an Apple TV set-top box and an HomePod into at least one product, a Bloomberg report from Mark Gurman says that the tech giant is also considering a HomePod that could have an iPad attached via a robotic that tracks and follows users around a room.

Gurman writes: The Cupertino, California-based technology giant, is also mulling the launch of a high-end speaker with a touch screen to better compete with market leaders Google and Amazon.com Inc., the people said. Such a device would combine an ‌iPad‌ with a ‌HomePod‌ speaker and also include a camera for video chat. Apple has explored connecting the ‌iPad‌ to the speaker with a robotic arm that can move to follow a user around a room, similar to Amazon’s latest Echo Show gadget.

The Sellers Research Group (that’s me) thinks that there’s less than a 50% chance this will happen. Gurman is one of the most accurate leakers of Apple news, but such a product sound a little too kludgy for an Apple design. I think a high-end speaker that could track you would have gaze detection features instead — something for which Apple has filed various patents.

The accompanying image is courtesy of Cults 3D.

Dennis Sellers
the authorDennis Sellers
Dennis Sellers is the editor/publisher of Apple World Today. He’s been an “Apple journalist” since 1995 (starting with the first big Apple news site, MacCentral). He loves to read, run, play sports, and watch movies.