According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple will introduce a HomePod with a screen in the first half of 2024. The speaker should enable users to control their HomeKit equipment via the screen.

Ku calls The alleged speaker represents a “potentially major change in Apple’s smart home strategy.” The analyst predicted that the screen on the HomePod would be 7 inches diagonal. Existing HomePods already have some sort of display on top, but this consists of lighting that emits a specific type of glow based on what function the speaker performs and serves no more function.

Rumors have been circulating for some time about the arrival of the HomePod with a screen. two years ago Bloomberg has already written about it, but a release date was not attached to it at the time. This now differs from Ming-Chi Kuo’s prediction. Earlier this year, Bloomberg also reported on the arrival of a smart display from Apple, which is also intended to control smart home devices. Basically this would be some kind of lower end iPad, which is not integrated into the HomePod speaker and is therefore a different product.

With the introduction of such a product, Apple will compete with Amazon and Google devices. These two companies have had a similar product on the market for years with the Echo Show and Nest Hub respectively.