Apple's surprise new product in 2025

A smart screen reportedly in development could run on something called "homeOS."

Author

Leander Kahney
September 30, 2024

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Apple reportedly plans to launch an entirely new type of device next year. Code-named J490, the rumored smart display would marry a smart speaker with a screen and rely heavily on Apple Intelligence, the AI features set to begin rolling out soon.

While details remain scarce, the device sounds a bit like an Amazon Echo Show, one of several smart screens that haven’t really set the world on fire.

My 81-year-old mom has an Amazon Echo Show 10 in her kitchen, and uses it all day, every day. However, although the device comes equipped with a swiveling, 10-inch screen, she rarely uses that. For her, the device is good for playing audio, but not much else.

That’s not to say Apple’s rumored smart display will suffer a similar fate. But we already have an abundance of screens and smart speakers in our lives. It’s hard to imagine what Apple’s device will bring to the party.

One possible exception: FaceTime. My mom uses FaceTime for video calls all the time on her iPhone. If her Echo Show supported FaceTime, I’m sure she’d use the large screen much more frequently.

Perhaps that’s the killer app for J490? Or maybe Apple anticipates an explosion of smart home tech -- fueled by new standards like Matter, which makes this disparate market, less, well, disparate -- and thinks the best way to control it is a smart speaker with a display.

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— Leander Kahney, EIC.

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