2 min readThere have been rumours about Apple’s screen based HomePod for a while, but now it has officially leaked I have questions. According to Bloomberg the yet to be named device (I’m betting on HomePad) will be a 6-inch square tablet with Apple Intelligence, Facetime cameras, running HomeOS. It ultimately looks to be a stripped down iPad with a wall mounting kit, or a speaker dock, that I’m guessing will cost anywhere between $90 - $300 AUD on top of the purchase price. Which begs the question of why!?
Tim Cook was recently quoted as saying that Apple doesn’t want to do things first, it wants to do them the best. The brand is constantly ridiculed for being late to the party (see every AI bro before Apple Intelligence came out), and both Google and Amazon have screen-based smart home devices which are little more than tablets, with a dock and speakers. Of course Apple needs to be competitive, but it undeniably already has the best tablet out there. You may have heard of it? It’s called the iPad and it's been around since 2010. I’m failing to see what kind of functionality this new gadget could possibly give that an iPad strapped to the wall couldn’t. Except for of course Thread.
While further connectivity details are hazy at the moment, the HomePad (I’m just owning that) will likely include Thread connectivity. Thread - a low powered connectivity standard used in the Matter protocol - was sneakily added to iPhones since the iPhone 15, but is yet to pop up in an iPad. This protocol is supposed to make for better smart home device mesh networks that don’t need WiFi bandwidth. Apple is a big supporter of Matter so its not a leap to expect it to turn up in an Apple Home device.
Yet Thread uptake is slow across the board. Some smart home device manufacturers like Nanoleaf are even rolling back their Thread enabled lines because they see it as too confusing for consumers. So for a Thread enabled HomeKit device to really have a point of difference, and an appeal, Apple would need to create it itself. This is not outside of the realm of possibility. Just yesterday leaks suggest the brand is working on a security camera with “wireless connectivity”. If this is the case, other accessories could easily follow suit.
Still, I am unsure about the HomePad. For those already embroiled in the Apple ecosystem a new iPhone with Thread would suit the job just as well as a standalone device. For those in a mixed ecosystem household, having a middle point for control may be helpful, but once again an iPad connected to any HomePod or Apple TV with Thread could offer the exact same thing. The price will of course factor into this too, but Apple isn’t really known for making cheap products with a screen.
Fortunately we won’t have to wait too much longer to see how Apple intends to differentiate this device as the “best” in the market. Reportedly we should know by March 2025.
