Earlier this month, when Apple announced that it is going to discontinue its original HomePod device, sceptics may have assumed that the company may be on the track to give up on the smart home gadget category altogether.
However, a new report by Bloomberg has subtly hinted that the iPhone maker has “been developing new speakers with screens and cameras.” It further adds that the launch of such a device is not imminent at the moment.
If this happens to be true, we may see a version of the HomePod with a screen attached to it that will make it directly compete with gadgets like Amazon Echo Show or a Facebook Portal or Google Nest Hub.
The mention of a possible smart display device from Apple was done in a Bloomberg report that was trying to make a point of how the company hasn’t made “a serious offering in the smart home market until 2018 with the original HomePod,” which was recently discontinued.
The report also suggested that some stakeholders are of the opinion that Apple may have missed the boat when it comes to smart home devices altogether “especially as it focuses on other new categories such as virtual and augmented-reality headsets and electric autonomous cars.”
As a result, no unifying strategy has emerged so far, claimed the report citing people familiar with the situation.
When the company had announced that it plans to discontinue offering the original HomePod, it had said that it will continue to produce and focus on the HomePod mini, which was introduced in 2020.
“HomePod mini has been a hit since its debut last fall, offering customers amazing sound, an intelligent assistant, and smart home control all for just Rs 9,900. We are focusing our efforts on HomePod mini,” Apple had said in a statement at the time.