Apple has never quite cracked the smart home market, and from time to time we hear about yet another push into the sector. According to one reliable leaker, the next such attempt will take place next year with the launch of two new products and an entirely new operating system. In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman predicts that the next Apple OS will be called homeOS, based on tvOS, and that this will run on a pair of new smart displays.
While targeting a broadly similar market and both running homeOS, the two devices will be markedly different in their scope and pricing. The first to land, according to Gurman, will be what he describes as a “low-end smart display for using FaceTime and controlling home appliances.” Codenamed J490, this could launch as early as next year.
But the companion product, currently codenamed J595, is a far more ambitious and consequently more distant prospect. It combines an iPad-like display with a tabletop robotic limb and is intended to function as a smart home “command center.” Gurman says it may cost $1,000 or more; he doesn’t offer a timetable for its launch.
It’s worth noting that both of these devices have been predicted before. Gurman himself covered J595 in mid-August, while the lower-end display, occasionally identified as a magnetic wall-mounted unit, has been talked about for years. What is new is the involvement in all this of Apple Intelligence: The two products, Gurman notes, “are considered collaborations between Apple’s artificial intelligence and home device hardware engineering groups.”
As the leaker points out, Apple’s current home range–the Apple TV and HomePods–are not specced to run its AI platform, and it’s looking for a solution. Apple Intelligence is crucially important to the company’s mid- and long-term strategy, and it wants the platform to sit at the heart of customers homes, and lives.
The first Apple Intelligence features are due to arrive in October with the iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS 15.1 updates.
Read more about the HomePod with a screen and Apple’s Home Hub/smart display plans.
Author: David Price, Editor, Macworld
David has been writing about technology for well over two decades, and got on board the Apple hype train when covering the original iPhone launch in 2007. He is an enthusiastic Apple Watch evangelist and feels that the HomePod is misunderstood.