Apple’s reported ‘HomePad’ may launch as early as October
The Verge David Imel ● Covered by 2 sources
Apple's long-rumored smart home hub may finally show up this fall, per a new Bloomberg report. It's built on tvOS, runs upgraded Siri, and even resizes its screen for whoever's looking.
Based on reporting by The Verge, David Imel — read the original for the full story.
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Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has pulled back the curtain a bit further on Apple's mysterious home hub, and the picture that emerges looks less like a bigger HomePod and more like a small tablet bolted to the wall. The device reportedly carries a 7-inch square display running a new operating system built on tvOS, but dressed up with grids of icons and widgets that borrow visual language from iOS and watchOS. Siri, in its long-promised AI-overhauled form, sits at the center of the experience.
Gurman's sources describe features aimed squarely at the smart home crowd Apple has mostly ignored until now: video calling, security monitoring, and intercom functions that talk to other Apple Home gear. One detail stands out — the interface is said to automatically adjust text and icon sizes depending on who's standing in front of it, a small touch that suggests Apple is thinking about shared household devices rather than single-user gadgets.
This has been a long road. Apple was originally expected to unveil the hub back in spring 2025, but the delay of its AI-powered Siri pushed everything back. Now the plan, according to Gurman, is to time the launch with iOS 27 and the eventual arrival of Siri AI, which Apple has said will ship in September.
The hub isn't traveling alone. Gurman's report also points to a new high-end security camera meant to go after Amazon's Ring, a fresh Apple TV box, and an updated HomePod mini, with a screen-equipped robotic arm rumored to follow sometime after that. It's a broader bet that Apple can turn its historically third-party-reliant smart home strategy into something more self-contained.
Gurman is careful to note that timelines could slip again — they have before — but he expects some kind of announcement between October and early next year. Given how many times this hub has been pushed, that window feels more like a hope than a promise.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
Apple showing up years late to the smart display party, propped up by an AI assistant it's still finishing, says a lot about how cautious the company has become outside its core hardware. Google and Amazon have had screens on kitchen counters for years; Apple waiting for Siri to catch up before entering the room isn't patience, it's damage control. If the personalization trick works as described, fine, that's a nice touch — but nice touches don't erase a multi-year delay.
Read more about this at: The Verge