Apple is quietly advancing a new smart home appliance: a wall-mounted control display rumored to be called the HomePad. The device would act as a central hub for HomeKit-compatible devices like lights, locks, thermostats, and security cameras.
The HomePad is expected to offer quick access to home controls through a touch screen that can be mounted on walls or other high-traffic spots around the house. It will reportedly run a new homeOS tightly integrated with HomeKit and support voice control via Siri and Apple Intelligence.
Hardware details circulating include a built-in battery, a roughly 6-inch display with thick bezels, an integrated camera, and speakers.
Apple plans smart home upgrades that take on Google and Amazon
Apple appears to be targeting U.S. smart-home customers where Google and Amazon already compete aggressively. One product in development is a smart camera tied to a video doorbell, a category Amazon serves through its Ring and Blink brands.
Bloomberg’s reporting indicates Apple’s push will be focused primarily on the U.S. market, where rivals are strongest. Other markets, including parts of Europe, are dominated by lower-cost Chinese brands such as Xiaomi and TP-Link that often do not support HomeKit.
Face ID-enabled doorbell and automated locks
Another device deep in development reportedly combines a doorbell camera with Face ID-style facial verification. That system would automatically link to a smart lock and unlock the door for recognized faces.
Those capabilities would bring Apple’s biometric authentication ecosystem into the front-yard security stack and tighten integration across its hardware and software platforms.
Context: Apple’s hunt for the next breakout category
Apple’s long-standing dominance in computers and mobile devices has coincided with a slowdown in big, category-defining breakthroughs. The company canceled its ambitious car project and has not achieved mass-market success with mixed reality hardware.
According to journalist Mark Gurman, smart home hardware is one of the areas Apple is exploring as a possible next platform to crack—bringing tighter integration, HomeKit-first services, and new hardware to a crowded market.
Related workstreams
Gurman also notes Apple is advancing other health-related experiments, including work to add temperature sensing, heart-rate monitoring, and broader physiological tracking to AirPods.
Taken together, the reports suggest Apple is pursuing parallel efforts across home and health devices as it looks for new product-led growth beyond the iPhone and Mac.
