Apple's HomePod may be a low-profile product in the iPhone maker's lineup, but it may soon be getting a major upgrade. But we won't get such a smart speaker until at least 2025 or later, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman argues in the latest issue of his weekly newsletter, Power On. [It could be a hybrid device combining Apple TV, FaceTime, and HomePod, or an iPad-like smart display that can be magnetically attached to the wall. The company has been "indecisive" for years about the direction of its smart home products, he said, and Apple has not made much headway on these other ideas, but is reportedly working on introducing an iPad-like display to its smart speaker product line.

"Apple continues to pursue this idea, and we have heard that they have begun initial work with overseas suppliers, including China's BYD, which manufactures some iPad models," Garman said.

The project is reportedly being led by Matt Costella and Brian Lynch, key executives in Apple's hardware division. in addition to the HomePod upgrade, Garman said Apple is also working on smart glasses, AirPods with cameras, Oura Ring and a fitness ring with health monitor similar to Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Ring, among many other as-yet-unannounced products.

The new reports confirm rumors that have been circulating for some time now that Apple's next smart speaker will feature a 7-inch display like the Amazon Echo Show 8 and will be designed to effectively integrate the iPad and HomePod . There is another clue to that: earlier this month, 9To5Mac spotted code in tvOS 17.4 developer beta 3 that mentions a new device called "Z314" that may be the next HomePod.

The developer beta includes SwiftUI framework and tools for UI debugging iOS apps for HomePod, which is odd since HomePod runs the same tvOS as Apple TV but does not include UI functionality. However, if Apple is preparing to release a new HomePod with a display attached, this would explain the need to build such a UI framework.

Naturally, a screened HomePod would have many benefits for users and would also make Apple's smart speaker more competitive with Amazon and Google's smart displays. With a display and a connection to the Home app, HomePod would serve as a versatile smart home hub. With the addition of a camera, it could also serve as a convenient device for FaceTiming with friends and family.

After discontinuing HomePod in 2021, Apple has since changed course and released a new full-sized HomePod last year. The smaller HomePod mini, on the other hand, was released in 2020, and no hardware refresh has been made since.