After the announcement of the new HomePod it seems that Apple has prepared more news related to home automationand one of them would include a kind of cheap iPad to control HomeKit.
Apple wants to bet more on the smart home, and for this it plans to launch a product that would serve as a control screen for home automation in our home. We can control HomeKit through our voice, our iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch, but he also wants there to be an information screen where we can see information about our house without having to go for our iPad or iPhone, and from which we can also control HomeKit. Its functions would not be only those, It would also serve to make video calls. It would basically be a “cheap” iPad that could be placed on the wall or any other surface using a magnetic fastening system.
Many users already have a screen very similar to the one we are talking about, because they have taken an old iPad that is no longer of much use and have hung it on the wall to leave it solely as a screen for home automation control. Surely this device we are talking about would have an interface more adapted to this functionality, for example, with weather information, buttons of different sizes, etc.. Gurman assures that Apple is thinking about different screen sizes, but for the moment the idea of screens larger than that of an iPad does not fully convince them.
In addition to this home automation control screen, Apple has prepared a new Apple TV with a faster processor, for early 2024, with the same design as the current model. Finally Gurman maintains that the idea of a hybrid device between HomePod, Apple TV and FaceTime Camera It is still on the table, and although the original idea was to launch it this year, the project has suffered several delays and for now the release date would be next year at the earliest.