From bgr.com
Apple is expected to unveil a bunch of new products in the first quarter of 2025, including an M4 MacBook Air refresh, the exciting iPhone SE 4, and a new iPad Air. But not all new Apple products set to hit stores in early 2025 will be updates to existing lineups.
We learned a few days ago that Apple plans to introduce a wall-mountable iPad-like device as soon as March 2025. The point of the gadget is to act as a controller for the smart home. The unnamed iPad-like gadget will become the center of your smart home, rocking an operating system that will feature elements from watchOS and iOS.
The new smart device is expected to be about as big as two iPhones sitting side by side. It’ll have a 6-inch display, and these comparisons made me think that some of the development work going into this product might benefit a future foldable iPhone.
But the smart home hub will look and behave like a smaller iPad whose primary focus will be the home. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman explained how the device will work in a new report, making me question whether I’ll ever need such a gadget.
Gurman said in his Power On newsletter over the weekend that the smart home device will run a homeOS operating system that supports Apple Intelligence and the smart Siri assistant. The latter will let users control software by voice via the new App Intents feature.
The gadget will run many Apple apps, including Safari, Notes, and Calendar. The user interface will be focused on a customizable screen featuring widgets similar to the iPhone and regular iPad, as well as smart home controls.
Gurman says that features like the iPhone’s StandBy Mode and Control Center update in iOS 18 are precursors of the new smart home device. These features make it easy to control a smart home from the iPhone and iPad.
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