Apple 'HomePad' may finally enable the iPhone maker to compete with Amazon, Google

Apple's smart home prowess has been lacking, but that may change soon

Apple could compete with the Google Nest Hub Max (Image credit: Google)

➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: HomePad?

• 📱 Apple’s cheap iPad could be mounted in your smart home

• 🆚 Rivals: Amazon Echo Show and Google’s Nest Hub screens

• 🍎 Apple hasn’t been as aggressive in smart homes vs Amazon, Google

• 🌡️ Low-cost iPad could control thermostats, lights; show video, FaceTime

• 🔈 Report drops the same day as Apple HomePod 2 news

The Apple ‘HomePad’ we heard rumblings about may actually come out, according to a new report that claims the company is actively working on a mountable iPad.

Apple’s smart display, first reported on by Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, is said to be a low-end iPad meant to control smart home gadgets. You’ll be able to adjust a smart thermostat and smart lights as well as watch videos and communicate via FaceTime.

Today’s news report doesn’t exactly say this, but Siri may be a key component, having a static position in your home, whether it’s on a coffee table or in the kitchen. No more having to shout “Hey Siri” at your phone or iPad that you left charging in another room.

Where an Apple ‘HomePad’ would compete

I don’t know if it’ll truly be called the HomePad – a tweak of the name HomePod with a focus on the fact that it’s an Apple iPad at heart. But it makes a lot of sense for Apple to launch exactly that in 2023.

A display-led HomePad would position Apple to compete for your budding smart home with Amazon and Google, which have their own screens: the Amazon Echo Show 10 ($249.99) and the Google Nest Hub Max ($229).

Contrast that with what Apple just launched today: the HomePod 2 which costs $299. While it’s a full-sized smart speaker with robust sound and tricks like “room sensing” and “spatial audio,” it costs more than Amazon and Google’s offerings and it doesn’t have a screen attached.

The Apple HomePod mini remains one of the best smart speakers, according to our own Wes Davis, especially for the price of $99, but again, no screen. The theoretical HomePad would solve that shortfall.

In addition to the Apple HomePod 2, we also got other announcements this week from the company, including the Apple Watch Black Unity Sport Loop today and the MacBook Pro 14 and 16-inch 2023 M2 Pro and Max that showed up yesterday. We’ll have a hands-on with the MacBook Pro 2013 as soon as we get one delivered.