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Macintosh News => Apple News => Topic started by: HCK on October 28, 2024, 04:05:05 pm



Title: Apple's Smart Home Display to Resemble Iconic iMac G4 Design With Small Square Display
Post by: HCK on October 28, 2024, 04:05:05 pm
Apple's Smart Home Display to Resemble Iconic iMac G4 Design With Small Square Display

Apple has several new smart home products in development, and with rumors about the initial low-cost smart home control device ramping up over the past few months, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman (https://www.macrumors.com/guide/mark-gurman/) has fleshed out a few new details in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-10-27/apple-m4-macbook-pro-mac-mini-imac-launch-details-ios-18-2-chatgpt-testing-m2rl1vws).



<div class="center-wrap">(https://images.macrumors.com/article-new/2021/04/HomePod-G4-Feature.jpg)MacRumors concept of an iMac (https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/imac/) G4-like HomePod (https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/homepod/)/smart home device</div>

According to Gurman, the smart home device is planned to launch sometime next year and will feature a hemispherical base with a small screen positioned at an angle on the base, making it resemble the iconic G4 &zwnj;iMac&zwnj; design from two decades ago.



Following up on previous rumors that the device will include a "squarish" display (https://www.macrumors.com/2024/09/26/apple-smart-home-accessory-square-display/), Gurman indicates the screen and overall device may be smaller than many have expected, with the screen being "about the size of two iPhones side by side."



The small size is reportedly part of Apple's effort to keep pricing down, allowing users to scatter multiple units in different rooms around the house.



<div class="center-wrap">(https://images.macrumors.com/article-new/2022/01/the-new-imac-g4-feature.jpg)The original &zwnj;iMac&zwnj; G4</div>

As previously described (https://www.macrumors.com/2024/09/30/apple-launch-smart-home-display-next-year/), the smart home device will run a number of iPad-like apps that make sense for its intended purpose, including FaceTime (https://www.macrumors.com/guide/facetime/), Notes, and Calendar, as well serving as a hub for smart home controls and being able to display photo and video slideshows. Gurman says it's "possible" that there will be speakers in the device's base, allowing it to serve as a HomePod-like device as well.



Beyond this initial smart home device, Gurman has previously described a more ambitious product with a larger screen mounted on a robotic arm (https://www.macrumors.com/2024/08/14/apple-tabletop-robotic-home-device-2026/) that would be able to identify users and automatically track them as they move around a room. That higher-end product will likely retail for around $1,000 and won't launch until 2026 at the earliest.<div class="linkback">Tags: Apple Smart Home Display (https://www.macrumors.com/guide/apple-smart-home-display/), Mark Gurman (https://www.macrumors.com/guide/mark-gurman/)</div>
This article, &quot;Apple's Smart Home Display to Resemble Iconic iMac G4 Design With Small Square Display (https://www.macrumors.com/2024/10/27/apple-smart-home-display-imac-g4-design/)&quot; first appeared on MacRumors.com (https://www.macrumors.com)

Discuss this article (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apples-smart-home-display-to-resemble-iconic-imac-g4-design-with-small-square-display.2441071/) in our forums



Source: Apple's Smart Home Display to Resemble Iconic iMac G4 Design With Small Square Display (https://www.macrumors.com/2024/10/27/apple-smart-home-display-imac-g4-design/)