Macworld

Apple may be less than two weeks away from releasing an all-new product in a new device category: a smart home hub. The device is said to be the start of a big push into the smart home category, which Apple has really only dabbled with so far. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says Apple is finally set to announce it on October 13, after years of waiting for the new Siri AI to arrive, which will play a central role in the new device.

According to the most reliable leaks and rumors, this is what we know of the device’s design and operation:

  • It will have a square aspect ratio with rounded corners and a 6-inch (diagonal) display.
  • It won’t have a battery, relying instead on USB-C for power.
  • It will have a metal, round base with perforated holes for the speakers and microphones.
  • It will attach to the countertop base via a polished metal arm, “reminiscent” of the classic iMac G4.
  • It will have a single front-facing FaceTime camera.

Additionally, the device is said to run on a new operating system that combines the “StandBy” type widgets and display of the iPhone, screens and faces like the Apple Watch, and some of the media capabilities of Apple TV. A secondary version that mounts to a wall is said to be in the works, too.

There will be clocks and photo displays, of course, but the device will primarily control smart home devices via a Home app of sorts, and include Apple Music, Calendar, Podcasts, Messages, FaceTime, News, Notes, and Reminders. There is no reported mention of an App Store, so it appears as though this is an accessory rather than a standalone platform.

A core feature is said to be user recognition. Since this is meant to be stationary in your home and not portable, it has to work for all the people in your house. So it recognizes people via their face and voice, and then customizes the display to their own preferences, showing their own data and accessing their own calendar, notes, reminders, and so on.

But if you’re expecting an iPad-like experience, think again.

A tiny 6-inch display

Apple sites like ours have been reporting on this so-called HomePad for ages. Apple has had it more or less ready to go for a long time, but it will rely on Siri for use, and Siri only just got its big brain transplant, so the home hub has sat on the back burner. We’ve largely envisioned a larger device that can act as a centerpiece of a room, something like an iPad or a small iMac.

But based on the latest rumors, most of the renders and mock-ups you see online have the scale all wrong, and it may have given you the wrong impression of its size.

Macrumors

Over at MacRumors, you will have seen the above mockup, with the square screen over what looks a lot like an iMac G4 base. There’s no scale present, so of course it could be tiny, but the size of the text and number of tiles on the screen makes it seem like it’s hovering over a big iMac G4-like base. That makes the display appear closer to 8-10 inches on a side, or maybe 12 inches diagonal.

9to5Mac

Mockups like this one from 9to5Mac are common, too, with a display (in this case not square) on top of a standard HomePod. The regular HomePod is 5.6 inches wide. So this mockup shows a screen at least 7 inches wide, or 8.75 inches diagonal.

A square display with a diagonal measurement of 6 inches is only 4.25 inches on each side. That’s only about 1.5 times as wide as an iPhone 18 Pro. Amazon’s Echo Show and Google Nest Hub are both larger than six inches and have widescreen displays. The HomePad will seem minuscule by comparison.

This ChatGPT-generated image of Apple’s upcoming smart home hub gives an idea of how small it might be, according to rumors.

Foundry / ChatGPT

Our shameless AI-generated mockup shows what that would look like to scale. Perhaps the base will be a HomePod mini-like half-dome. Maybe it will be more of fat, round coaster. But a rounded-square 6-inch display is really rather small—for comparison, a regular iPhone is more than 30 percent taller!

This scale makes some sense, especially if Apple is trying to make this an affordable device where you buy several and scatter them around the house. But it also speaks to how Apple intends its customers to use it.

How might you use it?

A square display that is only six inches diagonal makes this device much more like an iPhone on a stick than an iPad, or even an iPad mini. That really limits its usefulness for large rooms. This isn’t the kind of thing you can hope to read while standing 10 feet away or hold FaceTime calls from across your living room. It’s more personal than that.

The ability to use it in the kitchen is going to depend very much on the size of your kitchen and where you put it. With enlarged text, you might be able to read a recipe from five or six feet away, but not much more than that. FaceTime calls are really only going to feel good when you’re right up near it. On the other hand, this becomes the perfect little gadget to sit on your bedside table, working as a smart alarm clock, noise machine, and podcast speaker.

While it doesn’t really make sense as an “across the living room” device, it would fit nicely on the end table next to your couch. It seems to be something that’s a little easier to ignore when you’re not using it, rather than a centerpiece. More like a HomePod mini than an iMac in that way.

It also means the base will be of limited size, and that puts limits on the sound volume and quality. Don’t expect the room-filling sound of the big HomePod, but rather something best for podcasts, audiobooks, or music at a modest volume and close distance.

Of course, we won’t really know what it looks like or how big it is until Apple announces it. The rumors about its design have been remarkably consistent over the last couple of years, but we don’t have leaked CAD drawings or parts from parts suppliers or anything like that to go from to know the scale. If the rumors are accurate, you should expect this home hub to be something “desk scale” rather than “room scale.”