Apple's HomePod is perhaps one of the company's most mediocre products. While it is in dire need of some major updates, Apple's newly discovered plans give us an idea of one of the directions the company is taking with HomePod 2.

Patently Apple found a patent application titled "Fabric-covered electronic device with touch sensors" that was filed with the USPTO in 2019 and published on March 5.

What is most interesting about this patent is that the speaker has hidden buttons inside the device that can be used to control it. A portion of the speaker glows to indicate certain buttons, such as play/pause.

Apple suggests two possible ways to achieve this. Either they use "conductive strands" woven into the fabric cover to detect when it is pressed (as shown in the image above), or they have a conductive layer under the cover that acts as an input surface instead.

Another illustration shows how these buttons would be positioned, with the illuminated area serving to show what they do each time they are pressed. However, Apple also suggests that touchable areas be placed all around the device, or at least over a larger area, so that the smart speaker can activate or deactivate certain parts when needed.

Lights are not just for the user. Another potential innovation that Apple details in the document is to allow the speaker to generate and detect infrared light, allowing it to communicate with other devices.

But don't get too excited. Patents do not necessarily translate into real products, and even if they do, it takes a long time for ideas to become reality. However, this does not seem like such a wild concept to realize, and this stylish and intelligent control method would be a notable improvement.