The long-rumored “HomePad” will debut next month, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says in his latest “Power On” newsletter.
“HomePad” is the rumored name of Apple’s upcoming home hub. It’s expected xpected to have a speaker (of course), a 7-inch display, an operating system that’s built around Siri AI that looks “like a mashup of iOS and watchOS.”
“The display will have its own home screen, widgets and clock faces similar to those on an Apple Watch or in the iPhone Duo’s upgraded StandBy mode,” Gurman says. “…. The roughly square screen will come in versions that either sit on a stand — resembling a HomePod mini chopped in half — or attach to a wall. It’s most similar to an Amazon.com Inc. Echo Show, but with a considerably smaller screen.”
Gurman says the HomePad will bring together all of your connected-device controls, video calls, intercom capabilities and media, while giving you access to Apple services and apps.” It will sync with an iPhone for setup and various other tasks, and Siri AI will be the “killer feature.”
“Apple imagines people using Siri on the home hub to look up information across their devices and accounts,” Gurman says “They could ask it to play a podcast or song someone sent them a while ago, find a particular image to display, or carry out more precise tasks in apps like Notes, Reminders and Calendar. The Siri AI app will also let them conduct more complex searches within an Apple interface.”
Power On is exclusively for Bloomberg.com subscribers. Get the full Power On newsletter every week — plus unlimited access to every featured article and a Q&A with Gurman— when you subscribe to the Tech Newsletter Bundle.
I hope you’ll help support Apple World Today by becoming a patron. Almost all our income is from Patreon support and sponsored posts. Patreon pricing ranges from $2 to $10 a month. Thanks in advance for your support.
