New home accessories from Apple: Allegedly postponed to autumn
For several years now, Apple has been working internally on a kind of "HomePad". For strategic and economic reasons, it seems to be taking even longer.
HomePod mini: This is what Apple's currently most popular home product looks like – it's completely outdated.
(Image: Apple)
Apple's smart home product line is completely outdated. The HomePod mini dates back to 2020, the HomePod 2 to 2023. The Apple TV 4K, which can also serve as a home hub, was last updated in 2022. But users will likely have to make do with these products, which are no longer worth buying, for a long time to come: Apple is said to have postponed new home accessories again. The latest information comes from Asia and American media sources.
Smart Home Display alias HomePad
According to reports, Apple wants to wait until at least autumn to launch a so-called new home accessory, which has already been postponed internally several times. The reason: New devices are only expected to work with the revised chatbot Siri based on Google Gemini, as Apple envisions. However, this is not expected until iOS 27 and the like. One of the planned devices, a novel smart home display in the form of a miniaturized, square iPad, bears the codename J490.
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According to Bloomberg, it was originally planned for spring 2025, then later for March 2026. It is intended to become a kind of AI hub for the home, including facial recognition and personalization. The idea is apparently that it can be magnetically attached to the wall to take it to other rooms. There were also rumors about a speaker base so that the device, also referred to as “HomePad” in the rumor mill, could also replace a HomePod.
If something breaks, it's not worth replacing
The leaker and Apple prototype collector Kosutami also mentions an integration for smart doorbells and a release date in autumn. None of this will please users of a smart home based on HomeKit. If their devices fail by this date, they will have to resort to old hardware. In fact, there are reports of frequent failures with the HomePod mini – here the touchscreen can fail, leading to “ghost touches” that can only be fixed with radical repairs (disconnecting the touchscreen).
HomePod 2 and Apple TV 4K are also not worth buying in their current variants, even if you can find a bargain here and there in stores. The chips used are outdated – newer models would presumably also help with the overall performance and switching speed of HomeKit networks.
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