Apple Inc. is making new displays and a faster TV set-top box to compete with Amazon.com Inc. and Google in the smart-home market, after relaunching its larger HomePod speaker.
People who know about the plans say that the move into smart displays will start with a tablet that is basically a low-end iPad and can control things like thermostats and lights, show video, and handle FaceTime chats. The product could be attached to walls or other surfaces with magnets, making it more of a home device than a regular iPad.
People who asked not to be named because the talks were private said that Apple has also talked about making smart-home displays that are bigger.
Even though the iPad already has smart-home features, smart-home devices that work on their own and are often designed as countertop or wall-mounted appliances are becoming more and more popular. Amazon has a line of products called Echo Show that have screens, and Google has a product called Nest Hub. And the second company, which is part of Alphabet Inc., is about to release a Pixel Tablet that can be used with or without a stand. Apple has also thought about making a home stand for its iPads.
The Cupertino, California-based tech giant has had a hard time in the home market and has lost a lot of ground to its competitors. Its devices still don’t do as much as they could, and Siri, Apple’s voice-control service, is behind Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant. With the new devices and upcoming changes to Siri, Apple hopes to change its luck.
Apple representatives declined comment.
Apple released the new HomePod speaker earlier on Wednesday. The USD299 device is a redesigned version of the first one. It uses the same chip as the Apple Watch from last year. It has a new sensor for figuring out the temperature inside a user’s home and an updated media panel on top. Bloomberg said earlier this year that the new speaker would be coming soon. The temperature monitor was added to the HomePod mini for the first time in 2021, but it wasn’t working yet.
The first HomePod was taken off the market in 2021 because it didn’t sell very well. Customers didn’t like the price or the fact that it didn’t do much. It was first sold for USD349, but Apple cut the price to USD299, which is unusual for the company. Strategy Analytics says that Apple’s USD99 HomePod mini has become more popular, taking up about 13% of the smart-speaker market.
Apple has agreed to support the new Matter protocol, which lets devices from different companies work together. This is part of the company’s plan to get customers who want smart homes. The company also recently changed how the Home app works, which lets you control its devices.
Apple is also working on updating its TV box, in addition to future smart displays and a new speaker. People say that a new version with the same design but a faster processor is being worked on for the first half of next year.
Apple’s TV device was last updated in October, when it got the A15 chip from the iPhone 14 and a remote that uses the USB-C standard. Even though the Apple TV box is constantly being improved, it hasn’t made much progress in the market. Insider Intelligence says that it only has a 5% share, compared to 30% for Amazon and 28% for Roku Inc.
Even though the new version will have a better chip, it probably won’t be able to stream 8K video, which is still a new video format.
Work on a long-awaited product that would combine the TV box with a smart speaker and FaceTime camera has also hit snags, but the project is still going on. The device was supposed to come out this year, but that has now changed. Also, the smart displays’ development schedules have been pushed back, so they probably won’t come out until at least next year.
Info source – Fortune