Apple’s subsequent HomePod might be a speaker dock for the iPad
With pundits starting to concern that Apple’s October product launches might be a snoozefest, it’s pleasing to listen to that one thing a bit out of the extraordinary for Apple is within the pipeline: a brand new dock accent that can rework the iPad right into a HomePod speaker and residential hub.
Mark Gurman, the prolific leaker and Bloomberg columnist, has claimed up to now that Apple is engaged on a brand new product class to problem Amazon’s Echo Show and related sensible speaker hubs: gadgets that may mix parts of the iPad, HomePod and Apple TV. These merchandise would supply a high-quality speaker, a display screen, voice activation and the power to manage an ecosystem of smart-home gadgets and equipment.
Gurman nonetheless thinks that is on the best way, probably as arriving “as quickly as 2023.” In his newest Power On publication, he predicts that the corporate has devised an easier and faster path to the identical market utilizing a tool with “related performance” to Google’s upcoming pill dock.
Following an strategy paying homage to Nintendo’s Switch, which may act as both a stationary video games console linked to a monitor or as a transportable handheld, Apple’s in-development docking accent would allow an iPad to show into a house hub when linked, with out committing the proprietor to a completely house-bound product. Gurman studies that the idea is “an iPad docking accent” that may “supply one thing that customers can place on a kitchen counter, in the lounge or on their nightstand.”
Apple has been eyeing up the house hub marketplace for years, however by no means appears capable of determine what product to base its technique round. The HomePod is restricted by its lack of a display screen and usually disappointing sensible options, whereas the Apple TV depends on extra merchandise; the killer dwelling product would mix parts of each. With Amazon and Google dominating the market, Apple wants to maneuver quick if it isn’t to be left behind.