After a few attempts to enter the smart home market with HomePod and HomePod mini, Apple is reportedly trying a new HomePod form factor – one with a display, similar to the Nest Hub and Echo Show devices that have been in the market since 2017.

The rumored new HomePod model would feature a 7-inch display and join the existing HomePod and HomePod mini family in an attempt to revamp Apple’s presence in the smart home market in the wake of Google and Amazon’s continued dominance. In January, Apple announced an updated second-generation HomePod model, signaling a continued interest in the smart home market. “With the popularity of HomePod mini, we’ve seen growing interest in even more powerful acoustics achievable in a larger HomePod,” Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Greg Joswiak said.

In a Medium post from prolific analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a reliable record of reports, he says that Apple will unveil a new HomePod with a 7-inch display within the first half of 2024. Apple is supposedly working with a new display supplier for the HomePod, Tianma. It is expected that if the shipment of display panels for HomePod goes well, Tianma may be used as Apple’s supplier of iPad display panels.

Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman first reported on Apple’s future smart home plans in 2021, revealing for the first time the company was exploring a HomePod with a multi-touch display. As of August 2022, Gurman reported at least two separate home products are currently under development: an iPad and speaker combo better suited for the kitchen and a living room device with an Apple TV, camera, and HomePod built in.

Gurman reported at the time that at least one of the two devices would launch by at least early 2024, lining up with Kuo’s latest report. This idea of new HomePod form factors has been reiterated by Gurman earlier in 2023.

A render on Twitter depicts a HomePod design with a large 7-inch display on the smart speaker’s front, possibly to be used for media playback or HomeKit controls. It was also leaked in 2021 on an Apple job listing the name “homeOS”, which could be the eventual merger of tvOS and the HomePod Software.