Apple’s belated answer to the Amazon Echo Show and Google Nest Hub ranges could arrive in 2024, according to an in-the-know analyst.
The prolific Ming-Chi Kuo reckons the smart display – essentially the offspring of a HomePod speaker and an iPad tablet – is still in the works with an unveiling planned for next year.
Apple’s AirTag has just got its first price drop in months
Amazon is currently offering a set of four AirTags for £94, that’s 21% or £25 off the price you’d pay if you walked into an Apple store and picked up the same product.
The device will have a 7-inch panel, so a little smaller than the 8.3-inch iPad mini, Kuo says, and will be manufactured in China.
The product will represent a shift in Apple’s smart home strategy when it arrives the first half of next year and would see tight integration with a host of other Apple product, Kuo says. This almost goes without saying. When did you last see an Apple product that failed to have tight integration with the rest?
Anyway, the post on Medium reads: “I predict that Apple will unveil a redesigned HomePod featuring a 7-inch panel in 1H24, with Tianma as the exclusive panel supplier. The HomePod, which equips a panel, could enable tighter integration with Apple’s other hardware products, marking a significant shift in the company’s smart home strategy.”
The smart display has been tipped before, with word of its potential existence coming as far back as April 2021. Then, the whisper was started by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. It’s been a little quieter lately, but Apple’s recent HomePod revival seems to increase the chances of it arriving, rather than diminishing.
We would envision such a device as having the necessary touch controls for entertainment as well as a voice-controlled smart home portal. It would be interesting to see how Apple approaches the device from a hardware design perspective.
Would you buy an Apple smart display? What unique features would you be looking for so it stands out from the crowd? Let us know @trustedreviews on Twitter.
