"HomePod Hub": Most important Apple product of the year?
According to a credible report, Apple's next big thing will be a kind of mixture of iPad and HomePod. However, this is only the first step towards a smart home.
HomePod with a question mark: What's next for Apple's Home division?
(Image: Generiert mit Grok durch Mac & i)
What will be Apple's most significant new product to hit the market in 2025? The well-known Bloomberg Apple reporter Mark Gurman has an interesting answer to this in his newsletter from the weekend: it's a “Home Hub” or “HomePod Hub”. He also apparently now assumes that Apple will combine a possible new “home device” with a HomePod – possibly in the form of a dock with a removable screen.
Smaller and cheaper iPad
According to Gurman, this is a kind of smaller and, above all, cheaper iPad that can be used to control smart home devices. It will also be capable of FaceTime video chats “as well as other tasks”. It is “basically a HomePod with a screen measuring around 7 inches”. He therefore considers it to be the most important new Apple product of the year because it is “a first step towards a bigger role for the company in the smart home”.
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Previously, there had been various reports that Apple could simply bring a HomePod with a display onto the market in addition to the “home device”. After all, the “home device” could also be mounted on a wall to control the home if it is flat. This could possibly be solved by the idea of a dock containing the speaker. However, it remains unclear whether this will actually happen. An availability date does not yet seem to have been set either, but it could be spring rather than later.
Own home hardware and robots
The Home(Pod) Hub is set to become another basis for using Apple Intelligence – in combination with Apple's HomeKit and Matter technology. Apple does not currently offer any smart home devices of it's own apart from the HomePod 2 and HomePod mini, but an Apple TV can also serve as a control center, and the Home is controlled via iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
Additional hardware always comes from suppliers, such as the cameras for HomeKit Secure Video. Apparently, there are now plans to offer Apple's own Home devices, including security cameras or doorbells with video. At least that's what Gurman claims to have heard. Later, high-end versions of the Home (Pod) Hub are also planned, such as a robotic version with a screen that follows the user.
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