New Leak Hints Apple's Homepod Redesign To Feature Curved LCD Screen

Apple Inc. AAPL is reportedly developing a new HomePod model with a curved LCD Display, as per a leak. The leak hints at a significant redesign of Apple’s smart speaker, potentially altering the user experience and competitiveness in the smart home market.

What Happened: MacRumors reported on Wednesday that Apple leaker and prototype collector “Kosutami” revealed that the tech giant is allegedly working on a curved LCD for its new HomePod model, codenamed B720.

The forthcoming design is said to mirror the current HomePod aesthetics, with the addition of a convex LCD screen at the top to display content. In October, Kosutami published images of parts that supposedly belong to a prototype touchscreen HomePod. Other sources reportedly confirmed these images.

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Apple is speculated to be modifying Apple Music and Apple Podcasts to suit the new display, which will exhibit a blurred animation based on the colors of the album art when a song or podcast is playing. There’s also the potential for displaying significant notifications.

The first suggestions of Apple working on new HomePods with displays and cameras came from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in 2021. Earlier this year, renowned Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed that Apple intends to launch a redesigned HomePod with a 7-inch display in the first half of 2024.

Why It Matters: This potential redesign of the HomePod comes amid growing competition in the smart home market. In January 2023, Apple released its second-generation HomePod with advanced computational audio and Siri integration after discontinuing the original in 2021.

The addition of a screen could further threaten the dominance of competitors like Amazon AMZN. In March 2023, Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at TF International Securities, predicted that Apple was planning to unveil a revamped HomePod in the first half of 2024 featuring a 7-inch panel.

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