Apple Considered Adding a Camera to the HomePod Years Ago
Apple considered launching a HomePod with a camera and additional sensors years before the upcoming "HomePad" device, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.

In a detailed profile of Apple's hardware engineering chief John Ternus, Gurman revealed that Apple considered adding a camera and a more advanced array of sensors to the original HomePod, which was announced in 2017. Ternus apparently believed that the additional capabilities would push up development costs and decided to cancel the features as a result.
Ternus was said to be reluctant to invest deeply in smart home devices when the first leading products from Amazon and Google arrived on the market around a decade ago. He subsequently took "some responsibility" for Apple falling behind in the smart home category.
Now, Ternus is leading Apple's efforts to re-establish itself in the smart home market with three new products, including an AI-powered smart home hub with facial recognition (J490), a small sensor for managing home security (J450), and a robotic device (J595). The smart home hub, dubbed "HomePad" in some reports, is expected to launch in the fall of 2026.
Popular Stories
Apple's annual WWDC developers conference is in the rearview mirror, but there is still a lot to look forward to over the next year and beyond.
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman listed around 20 products that he expects Apple to release across the remainder of 2026 and 2027.
Now that the more intelligent and personal version of Siri has finally arrived in beta, a...
Apple's upcoming high-end MacBook model featuring an OLED touchscreen display will use the company's current M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
The new, top-of-the-line device will launch "between late this year and early next year," Gurman said, adopting the existing high-end Apple silicon chips rather than next-generation M6 versions. Like the MacBook Pro, the...
Apple shares have rallied 15 percent since their worst day on the stock market in more than a year, adding almost $600 billion in value since June 25 and returning the stock to record territory (via Bloomberg).
The rebound comes as investors grow uneasy about the mind-boggling sums of cash continually being poured into the AI data center buildout, despite there being no obvious indicator for ...