With the more-expensive HomePod discontinued, it only makes sense for Apple to look to fill the gap with something new. A Bloomberg report noted that Apple has been working on a new speaker with screens and cameras. No details are available yet, but if Apple does make a move to smart displays, experts believe it will need to do something genuinely innovative for the device to take off and be picked up by everyday users. “To stand out against its competitors, Apple must be innovative. Including a screen to make any device more intuitive for the customer is normal,” Neil John, a tech enthusiast and software engineer, told Lifewire via email. “However, not bringing up an idea of your own and being creative with your device will be a drawback.”
Moving Forward
Now that Apple has discontinued the original HomePod, the company’s viability in the smart speaker industry is being tested even more as it pushes towards relying on the HomePod mini to pave the way. Others feel that a new HomePod with a screen could be a perfect solution to the current problems that Apple’s HomeKit software framework is facing. “There certainly does seem to be space in Apple’s product offerings for a better HomeKit hub solution. A HomePod with a screen could be a perfect place to monitor and control all the HomeKit-compatible accessories you had installed on your home network,” Weston Happ, product development manager at Merchant Maverick, explained in an email. Part of the problem, he says, is the focus on audio quality instead of functionality, something that ultimately hurt the HomePod in the end. “HomePod offers a unique place in Apple’s product lineup where it could fully incorporate the home network needs of its customers and possibly jump back in full-force to the ever-expanding home mesh-network solutions universe,” Happ said. Despite the fallbacks that Apple has experienced with the original HomePod, and its continued struggle to stand out against Echo and Nest devices, Happ says the company’s history of transforming ideas into new and innovative designs is something to take to heart. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the company will succeed on its next try.
Ready for the Future
Two primary things need to be considered if Apple decides to push forward with a new HomePod that features a smart display: cost and functionality. Smart displays are a nice piece of technology, but Dr. Joan Palmiter Bajorek, the CEO and founder of Women in Voice, says that consumers aren’t quite ready for them yet. “[Smart displays] are expensive,” Bajorek told us on a call. “Who is buying these? What’s the price point?” she asked. Bajorek says that consumers are still too focused on haptic feedback and the physical responses from pushing buttons on the smart devices they already own. She also notes that voice technology isn’t where it needs to be for these devices to reach a broad audience. “These users are still early adopters,” she said. “What is the advantage to having the screen on something else if their iPhone can do it just as well?”
