Quick Summary
Apple's next big smart home device could look rather like the beloved iMac G4.
It'll have a much smaller size, however, and the base could be a speaker or speakers.
We've been hearing for many months now that 2025 will be the year Apple takes the smart home seriously again. It has fallen behind rivals such as Google and Amazon, but in 2025 we'll see a renewed focus on smart home software and speakers.
One of the most interesting such speakers is Apple's smart home hub, which is believed to be a HomePod with an iPad-esque display. And according to one insider, the design Apple's working on could resemble one of the most-loved Macs, the iMac G4.
The smart home display won't be as large as the old iMac, however. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman the screen is roughly the size of two iPhones side by side. However, that screen "is positioned at an angle on a small base, making it reminiscent of the circular bottom of the iMac G4 from a couple of decades ago." That's no bad thing: the G4 iMac is a design classic, although any resemblance is likely to be fleeting rather than full-throated.
What to expect from Apple's smart home hub
According to Gurman the base may include speakers, effectively turning the device into a HomePod with a screen. We've been seeing rumours and leaks of a screen-enabled HomePod for many months now but those largely focused on a very similar design to the current HomePod with a larger, more functional display on the top.
It's unclear whether that's a design direction that Apple is still considering, of if this newer device is the way Apple now intends to go. Gurman says an Apple smart home device with a screen on a robotic arm is still coming, although not until 2016.
Although a display is useful – it'll reportedly enable you to use slimmed down versions of some key apps such as FaceTime, Notes and Calendar – the main way we communicate with Apple's Home devices is still via Siri – and that's getting a big overhaul in 2025 too.
We're seeing the early Apple Intelligence features arrive in iOS 18.1 in the US next week and in the UK in December, but the real steps forward will be iOS 18.2, which is currently in developer beta, and iOS 18.4, which is expected in March. That should hopefully address one of the weakest points in Apple's smart home ecosystem: the digital assistant that controls it.
