Thoughts & Questions Around Apple's Would-Be 'HomePod Hub'
Whispers of Apple's HomeHub/HomePad/FacePad/FacePod device are far from new – rumors date to at least 2024. And there was some hope/thought that it could even launch later that year, but almost certainly in 2025. Siri had other plans. Because Apple's AI efforts were central to such a device, it kept getting pushed, and pushed, and pushed. Perhaps alongside the long-overdue updates to the Apple TV and HomePod. But now we have a 'save the date' at least from Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, if not Apple themselves:
Apple Inc. plans to make its long-delayed push into the smart-home market on Oct. 13, marking a critical product expansion for the company under new Chief Executive Officer John Ternus.
At the center of the strategy is a smart-home hub code-named J490, according to people familiar with the matter. Apple also plans to announce the first update to the HomePod mini since that device’s 2020 debut and its first new TV set-top box since 2022.
It's interesting that Gurman doesn't explicitly say that Apple will hold an event that day to unveil the devices, just that they will make the "push" that day. But actually, Gurman wasn't the first to report that date, John Gruber stated it a few days prior on Daring Fireball. In his signature coy style:
I have been told absolutely nothing about when, or even if, Apple plans to seed advance units of the iPhone Duo to reviewers. In my experience, even off the record, Apple never talks about these things in advance, nor offers hints. But if they do seed review units of the Duo, I would expect that to start on Tuesday, October 13 or Wednesday the 14th, with the embargo lifting on October 20 or 21, two or three days ahead of the Duo reaching customers on Friday the 23rd. It’s also my experience that Apple does not like shipping review units of high-profile new products like the Duo before they are released to the public. They prefer handing review units like the Duo to reviewers in person. You sign the embargo agreement in person, and they hand you the product in person. One natural way to hand reviewers iPhone Duo units in person would be to hold a media event, for other new products, on October 13 or 14. Kill two birds with one stone.
If they hold such an event in New York that week, it would be really nice if it coincided with a Yankees home game in the ALCS. But now I’m really getting ahead of myself.
So yes, that backed up by Gurman's firm date suggest an event of some kind in New York City on Tuesday, October 13. But it's entirely possible that Apple does this as a fully virtual "event" – meaning a pre-recorded video is pushed live at a certain time, say, 10am ET, and certain members of the media are invited to a small gathering to watch it live and most importantly, to get hands-on time with the products afterwards (which is essentially what even the major Apple events are nowadays anyway, so yeah).1 This would also be when those iPhone Duo review units would be handed out, embargoed for October 20 (a few days before the Duo goes on sale on October 23). This is how Apple rolls.
More interesting may be when the would-be new devices go on sale. And more specifically what the new home device will be called and how it will be priced.
What's in a Name?
It doesn't take any guesswork to believe that this October showcase would be fully built around the home given the devices that are launching. And Apple has used that basic theme to talk up such products before. But the key will be this new device, obviously, as the new central point of the home strategy. To that end, I think 'HomeHub' (or 'Home Hub') is the most obvious name, but pretty boring. 'HomePad' is more fun and points to the clear iPad inspiration here, but could get confusing with the HomePod given the single letter difference.2 So perhaps they actually merge those ideas and go with 'HomePod Hub'?
Again, it's a bit bland, but it sort of feels like this new product is going to be portrayed as a variation of the HomePod, but with a screen and more functionality. And 'Hub' is three letters, which Apple has loved branding-wise of late – see: 'Neo' and 'Duo' to go along with 'Pro' and 'Max'.3
One thing I like about the 'HomePod Hub' name is that it describes what it is – a HomePod that's meant to be the central system hub for your home. And that matters here perhaps more than other products because it's not entirely clear to me how Apple is going to get people to buy this thing – let alone "several" of them to put throughout their homes, as Gurman states is the idea.
The hub’s defining feature will be its ability to serve multiple members of a household. It is designed to recognize who is speaking to it or approaching it, and then display personalized content and provide answers based on that person’s data and accounts.
When a user walks up, for example, the device will show that person’s contacts, messages, calendar appointments, notes and preferred app layout. The interface can then change automatically when another recognized household member approaches. It will also have a mode for visitors that hides personal information.
All of that suggests (and all of which had been rumored before) that this will be largely built for families, helping with calendars and other bits of coordination throughout a day. There are other products on the market that do this now, but none could have the tight integration that Apple would have if you (and your whole family) are in that ecosystem.
And while Apple's own (also long rumored) security cameras would apparently come later, presumably Apple would play up third-party integrations that they've been building up for years with the Home app and HomeKit for iPhones and iPads. But the question there is whether such integration warrants buying a whole new device to manage, say, your garage door, versus just doing that on the iPhone or iPad you already own.
Again, I would assume Apple will play up many use cases for such a device – FaceTime with groups, some newfangled games that leverage the camera and audio system, etc – but Siri AI will clearly still be the key to the whole thing. This isn't a Mac, it's more like an iPad on a stand or a HomePod with a screen, so it's clearly going to be voice-first. And that's only going to work well if the voice elements work well, obviously.
The Cost of Success
Apple's initial HomePod strategy failed because it ran face-first into the Alexa buzzsaw at the time. Not only was Amazon's voice assistant better, they were willing to put cheap devices anywhere and everywhere in the home. That actually came back to bite them when LLMs changed the AI game and so Amazon (and Apple) were left with comically outdated technology. And in Amazon's case, that strength – millions of devices in homes – also became an albatross of sorts as they worked to rebuild Alexa for the agentic age. To the point that they're still working on it. Apple has the same issues, of course, but those were more around the iPhone and less around the home because again, their home strategy didn't work the first time.
With Siri AI now seemingly "good enough" it will be fascinating to see how they price such a new device. The HomePod (regular size – which apparently won't be updated at this event, but later on) is $349. The cheapest iPad starts at $449. It's hard to see Apple selling this new product for less than $499. And that's especially true in our current world with component prices requiring Apple to unnaturally shift their pricing strategy. It could very well be $599, just below the MacBook Neo now starting at $699.
Still, the fact that it's said to have a 6-inch screen – far smaller than the 11-inch screen found on that entry-level iPad – could help with costs. Then again, Apple also hasn't been producing 6-inch screens at scale for years, as they have been for iPad-size screens (even the iPad mini screen size is 8.3-inches). And again, the current HomePod has no screen. Well, aside from the glowing orb thing at the top of the device.
So yeah, $499 seems about right? But is that too expensive for what Apple is trying to do here? Again, if Gurman's report is accurate and Apple wants people to buy "several" of these to sprinkle throughout a home... That feels like a harder sell.
Instead, I suspect Apple will play up how nicely the HomePod Hub plays with existing HomePods – including the newly refreshed mini. And yes, the new Apple TV too. All of these can be controlled and accessed through the new hub, turning those into intercoms and media sharing devices. (Which yes, is similar to what Amazon has been doing for years with Echo devices.) At $129, buying a few HomePod minis to sprinkle throughout the home is an easier sell (and they'll probably sell them in a bundle of some sort?).
The iLamp
Okay, but what will it actually look like?
The hub is about as thick as an iPhone, and its display is surrounded by a quarter-inch, black bezel reminiscent of older iPads. It has rounded corners and no sharp edges. The device lacks a battery, so it has to be plugged in at all times, and there are no volume or power buttons.
The product comes in Apple’s standard gray aluminum finish and includes a USB-C port for power. The screen sits above a metal, round base with multiple rings of perforated speaker holes and connects to it through a polished metal arm. Users can manually tilt the display forward or backward. And the base has a rubberized bottom to help it stay on a table.
The standard version looks reminiscent of the famous iMac G4 from 2002 that has a large display that sits on a half-dome-shaped base.
Here I am questioning the purpose and value proposition of this device when really, if it does indeed look like that iMac G4 – a computer I used to use and love and have gushed about for years – I'm sold already. You had me at the 'Hello' wallpaper.
I wrote the following two years ago on the rumors of such a device:
I'm still not 100% sure I understand the actual market for such a device. And I continue to wish it were more of a family iPad hub (complete with fast user account switching) that various people could use in the living room. But it does sound more like it will be positioned as a HomePod with a screen that expands the scope not only to video but to other household use cases such as family calendars and yes, home automation. This all clearly ties into the rumored "homeOS" software that will presumably be a variant of iOS/iPad OS – and seemingly will be tailored for that square screen.
For a household that runs on Apple devices, which mine mainly does, I guess this makes some sense in the living room or kitchen, but again I wonder why it's better than an iPad for such purposes? That will be up to Apple to come up with those reasons, of course. But perhaps it will be enough to simply push a fun-looking device out there. Apple hasn't done enough of this in recent years and a desk lamp-looking device would be fun. Especially if it came in colors and could be a relatively inexpensive family computing hub for music, videos (movies would presumably still mainly be meant for the larger TV, but YouTube, IG, TikTok, etc), some games, and FaceTime. A fun 'FacePod' as it were.
The FacePod
That 'FacePod' idea came out of the pandemic, when it looked like Meta – yes, Meta – was eating Apple's lunch in the living room with their 'Facebook Portal' device. Well, that dream was short-lived but history repeats and all that.
Speaking of that old Portal device, while Meta (then still Facebook) ended up being right place/right time for a time, my initial read when it launched back in 2018 was that it was a comically bad idea for a company with their trust deficit to be launching a camera device for the living room. Again, history repeats. But also, Apple will undoubtedly have to worry about this issue as well since, as reported, the marquee feature of the device (user switching/tailoring) will require the camera to be on at all times to work best.
Apple keeps dancing around such "surveillance" concerns mainly because, unlike Meta, they have strong user trust. But they keep pushing those envelopes... And what's the story going to be for children here with such a device?
How Soon is Now?
Anyway, we're clearly going to get answers to all the above soon. And given the fact that this product was on ice for so long, I also wouldn't be shocked if it's shipping soon. Maybe even immediately upon announcement?
If these products actually beat the iPhone Duo to market, that would be something. Also, what about the MacBook Pro Touch? No word on that Gurman's report, but previous ones had it still on track for this year. Maybe Apple will try to space things out a bit more? They couldn't really just launch that with a press release, could they? No. So is that another event/video? Maybe in November? Maybe even in-person so as best to reach out and touch such a device?
One more thing: I remain far more interested in the still-in-the-works version of this 'HomePod Hub' that has a robotic arm – 'HomePod Robot'?. I don't even care what it does, you just know that Apple is going to have some fun with that one. And we need more fun from such devices as AI doom and gloom clouds everything. Also, robots!
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
1 Here's my obligatory and endless plea to bring back fully live events, please Apple, they just have such a better energy, as Meta just showcased last week. ↩
2 'FacePad' remains sort of fun as well in describing how works (unlocked and customized via facial recognition) and could point to deep integration with FaceTime. But it's sort of a weird name – FaceTime is clever, FacePad is clunky. It also slightly evokes Facebook. ↩
3 'HomePod See' could be interesting, but feels too invasive? ↩