Apple announced the HomePod (2nd Generation) at the beginning of 2023, bringing a number of improvements over the original model from 2018. The design remained similar, but it saw a number of refinements and Apple introduced features like a temperature sensor within the 2nd generation speaker, alongside a larger display at the top.
Now, the display on the top of the Apple HomePod (2nd generation) isn’t perhaps what you might think when you consider a traditional display. It lights up when you speak to Siri and it’s glorious in terms of its appearance, which is edge-to-edge on the 2nd generation model rather than just in the centre like the original, but the screen is otherwise quite useless. In a nutshell, it looks pretty but it doesn’t do anything as such. Rumour has it that could be changing for the 3rd generation of the HomePod, and there is a really good case for a useful screen on the HomePod.
Why a screen on the HomePod makes perfect sense
A leak appeared in March 2023 that suggested the HomePod could come with a 7-inch display, though more recently another leak from a different source has suggested a touchscreen display could grace the next HomePod on top of the speaker, replacing the screen that already exists.
When I first heard the 7-inch display rumour, I assumed Apple would be going down the same route as Amazon with its Echo Show and Google did with the Nest Hub and more recent Pixel Tablet, all of which are effectively displays with a speaker rather than a speaker with a display.
It made sense to me that Apple might consider popping what could effectively be an iPad mini on top of a great sounding speaker that you could not only control your home with, but stream content, watch recipes, see results from Siri. You know, everything you can do with the Echo Show and Nest Hub.
The more recent rumour suggests Apple might instead expand the display on the top of the current HomePod to a touchscreen display. If this is true, it would suggest that the HomePod will remain a speaker first and foremost, but perhaps offer more features via the display on the top, rather than just the ability to play/pause music, turn the volume up and activate Siri.
There’s plenty that could be done with a screen on the HomePod – turning HomeKit compatible lights on and off, checking what the weather is going to be for that day, displaying the album art for the track you’re playing, or seeing the progress of that takeaway you ordered in a Live Activity style format, for example. The leak claiming the touchscreen would go on top of next HomePod revealed images that appear to show a device with a framework similar to what is currently offered, so it’s possible it really could just be adding a touchscreen with more control to the top, rather than a fully-fledged display with an OS like Nest Hub.
Personally, I think there is a greater argument for a HomePod that follows a similar path to the Google Pixel Tablet, given Apple already has the tablet side of things down, and the speaker side sorted. It just needs to find a way to attach them and expand its Home offering. I heard there was a technology called MagSafe that could very much handle the attachment part…
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