In a new report, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says Apple is working on a new smart home product: a major evolution of an Apple TV set-top box that integrates a smart speaker and camera hardware. Somewhat similar in concept to the Roku Streambar, the single device would upgrade a user’s living room with a comprehensive multimedia system.
The device would offer the kind of features users would expect from an Apple TV box — like access to video streaming apps and games console — as well as HomePod-esque smart speaker features and a camera for smart home security and living room FaceTime.
Bloomberg warns the device is in early development and may not ever be released as an actual consumer product.
The news follows Apple’s discontinuation of the larger HomePod speaker. Apple customers are also still waiting for a next-generation model of the Apple TV set-top box. The rumor mill currently expects a revision to the Apple TV to arrive sometime this year.
The combination of smart speaker and TV set-top box feels like a natural evolution. Right now, the Apple TV requires the user to hold down the mic button on the remote to talk to Siri. It would be much more elegant if the Apple TV was simply always listening.
Expanding on Bloomberg’s reference in March that Apple was working on speaker hardware with displays, today’s report also says that Apple is considering a smart speaker product with a touch screen.
Both the combo TV box/speaker and the touch-screen HomePod sound like they are a far way off, and not likely to be launched within the next year.
In the near term, Apple users can anticipate the release of a new Apple TV featuring an upgraded processor and new remote. Apple is expected to announce the new Apple TV before the end of 2021, probably in the fall.
