The StandBy feature of iPhones offers a hint of how an Apple smart home display could work. | Image: David Pierce / The Verge
Apple is preparing to take a fresh run at the smart home that starts with a rumored smart display that it may release next year. That’s according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who writes in his Power On newsletter today that the display will use a new operating system, called homeOS, that’s based on the Apple TV’s tvOS (much like the software that drives HomePods now.)
Gurman reports that the display will run Apple apps like Calendar, Notes, and Home, and that Apple has tested prototypes with magnets for wall-mounting. And it will support Apple Intelligence — something Apple’s HomePods don’t currently do.
Rumors of such a device have been going around for some time now, with form factors ranging from a HomePod with a screen to a display a…