Apple’s latest macOS beta has spilled some intriguing details about a long-rumored HomePod with a built-in display.
Buried in the code are references to customizable “faces,” widgets, Smart Stacks, privacy-aware features, and even a wall-mountable version—hints that the smart speaker we’ve known for years may finally be getting a major interactive upgrade.
Filipe Espósito for Engadget:
The beta code from Apple makes clear references to a new “HomeAccessory” that is likely a HomePod (or maybe a HomePad?) with a screen… Like other HomePods, this new model with a display is likely to run a variant of tvOS. The interface will be quite different, though. The code reveals that its home screen will feature “Faces” and a “Face Gallery.” Think of them like Apple Watch faces, but bigger. These faces appear to be customizable with different widgets and even Smart Stacks, so you’ll see different widgets throughout the day.
The code also suggests that the new HomePod can detect when the user’s iPhone is nearby to decide whether or not to display personal information in the widgets. That’s a really nice touch for keeping sensitive data private. iPhone widgets can also be added to this HomePod. It should work much like placing iPhone app widgets on your Mac using Handoff. Support for Siri AI and App Intents is also expected based on what the code tells us.
MacDailyNews Take: We’re actually waiting to see this as we need a couple of HomePods currently, but, if they offer comparable sound quality to HomePod, they might as well be “HomePads.”
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it should have a real face, like R2D2, not a watch face, with a bunch of icons.
R2D2 was useful for what exactly? Less than Apple’s overhyped trash Can My Ass Pro, and that’s being generous. Now Apple thinks people need a phone glued to a countertop next to the useless Homepod? Hard pass.
It’s 2026. In the 19 years since Jobs unveiled the iPhone, Apple should know by now that digital assistants either:
a) need to fit comfortably in one’s pocket and provide basic communication functions reliably, or
b) sit on a desk or lap and be super powerful to do any computing task imaginable, or
c) do practical work in industries where Apple has no reach.
In categories a/iPhone and b/Mac, Apple has done very well overall. But outside these two core product lines it’s been a minefield of horse droppings. Stuff has been disappointingly limited (hobbled iPad & niche Vision, overpriced also-ran white plastic accessories easily outperformed by the non-fruit competition, etc), or merely shifts to subscription services, the most obvious money grab of our era.
I cannot think of anyone in the real world that wants a brand new screen thing designed to sit forever anchored to a counter in the corner of your kitchen. In contrast, I know many people who have repurposed old Macs in many ingenious and practical ways. One can only pray for the day Big Tech stops trying to push voice assistants down our throats.
After years using this kind of products with displays, in have to say: the displays are just useless.