Apple Smart Home Display Still Coming This Year - MacRumors
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Apple Smart Home Display Still Coming This Year

Apple remains on track to launch its first smart home device with a screen before the end of the year, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

Home Hub Command Center with Dome Base Feature
Gurman reiterated that the device will use facial recognition to determine who is standing in front of it and serve up personalized content for that individual user. The description lines up with code found in macOS Tahoe 26.7 earlier this week, which revealed that the smart home hub will support multiple user profiles and use "ambient sensing" to verify identity. Apple is also readying a new Apple TV and an updated HomePod mini as part of the same renewed push into the home, according to Gurman.

Apple's smart home hub has been rumored for years. It is rumored to feature a square, seven-inch display with a front-facing camera, running an operating system closer to tvOS than iOS, with a home screen built around quick-access widgets. Pricing is expected to land somewhere around $350.

Apple originally intended to release the device in spring 2025, then targeted spring 2026, before pushing it back to September because Siri AI was not ready. Gurman reported over the weekend that Apple is rearranging sections of its retail stores to accommodate new smart home products.

Related Roundups: Apple TV, HomePod mini

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Top Rated Comments

2 weeks ago
Only $350? How much RAM we pushing, 52kb?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
anthony13 Avatar
2 weeks ago
As an iPad owner it will take a lot to convince me I want this product. Seems like a lot of over lap but maybe the homeOS updates will explain/justify the need for this.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2 weeks ago
Are Flock cameras also considered "ambient sensing"? 😬
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TwoBytes Avatar
2 weeks ago
I'm sick of this 24", bring back the 27"...oh, whoops, wrong thread :)
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Spock Avatar
2 weeks ago

Why doesn't apple just make an app so that I can do this with my old iPad if it's good enough, to keep it off the used market, and to provide the added incentive to buy high-end iPads because they will have a second life?
Apple does not want you to use an old iPad, they want you to buy a new one for whatever you are using it for.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2 weeks ago
Why doesn't apple just make an app so that I can do this with my old iPad if it's good enough, to keep it off the used market, and to provide the added incentive to buy high-end iPads because they will have a second life?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)