Apple’s rumored smart display is coming this month, and it could challenge Google’s smart home lead

For years, Google and Amazon have dominated the smart home space, with Apple largely sitting on the sidelines. While Apple offered the HomePod and HomePod mini, its lack of a dedicated smart display left Cupertino lagging behind the best smart home ecosystems. Meanwhile, Google has had plenty of runway with the Nest Hub, Nest Hub Max, and its ambitious dockable Pixel Tablet. However, this smart home journey hasn’t been smooth of late, with plenty of complaints arising from Google’s and Amazon’s AI integrations. The room is wide open for disruption, and Apple could be planning to do exactly that this month with new smart home hardware.

According to a Bloomberg report, Apple is finally preparing to launch its long-delayed, full-scale assault on the smart home market on October 13. The offensive includes a brand-new smart display hub, an updated HomePod mini, and a refreshed Apple TV box, with all of these products serving as a hardware showcase for Apple’s revamped, LLM-powered Siri.

If Google hasn’t sorted out its lingering smart home crisis yet, Apple might be about to eat its lunch.

Apple’s iMac G4-esque smart home display

The report says that Apple’s push will be spearheaded by a new smart display intended for your countertop (code-named J490). The display is said to be a roughly 6-inch square (!) screen with rounded corners and quarter-inch bezels, resting on a round aluminum base via a tiltable metal arm (strongly reminiscent of the iconic 2002 iMac G4). The display is said to have no battery, no volume or power buttons, and relies on USB-C power. A flat, wall-mountable variant (code-named J491) is also reportedly on the way.

Apple’s killer feature is said to be personalized household presence. By combining voice recognition and an integrated front-facing camera, the smart display is said to seemingly recognize who approaches it and automatically switch the interface to display their specific contacts, notes, calendar, and preferred widgets. It also includes a visitor privacy mode and iPhone fallback authentication.

The operating system allegedly mixes iPad-style split-pane apps (Messages, Calendar, Notes, Reminders), watchOS-like icon arrangements, and clock/photo slideshow screens that resemble iOS’ StandBy mode.

Also new: HomePod Mini 2 and Apple TV 4K

Beyond the smart home display, which will be the company’s first such product, Apple is also expected to announce the first HomePod Mini refresh since 2020 (featuring fresh colors, as MacRumors found out, and faster silicon), as well as a faster Apple TV 4K, as spotted by MacRumors again.

Both products are expected to look largely the same on the outside, but are said to be upgraded specifically to run Apple’s new on-device and cloud-based AI models.

Why Google needs to take this seriously before it’s too late

Google has dominated the smart display conversation for a fairly long time, but it has grown notoriously complacent.

The original Nest Hub Max proved years ago that camera-based face matching and household utility could work. But instead of iterating on dedicated Nest smart displays with modern silicon and snappy interfaces, Google pivoted its attention toward the Pixel Tablet.

While some users still find daily utility in the Pixel Tablet’s dual identity, the device ultimately suffered from an awkward compromise. It tried to be both a casual living-room slate and a half-stationary smart-home hub, but stumbled in both. Hub Mode lacked the frictionless, always-on household reliability of dedicated Nest hardware, leaving users waiting for Google to deliver a true successor to its smart screen lineup.

Compounding that hardware identity crisis is Google Home’s software frustration. In recent months and years, users have had to wrestle with persistent Google Home automation and routine bugs, sluggish assistant responsiveness (and downright wrong answers), and the slow, fragmented transition toward Gemini. We’ve been covering stories about bugs and frustrations with Google Home practically every month now, and it’s very clear that a part of the smart home user base is deeply frustrated.

Google likely counts on some of these users as part of its “ecosystem,” effectively locking them in. But many are here because of a lack of viable choices from mainstream companies. Apple’s entry into the arena will immediately give users another reputable and (relatively) privacy-conscious option for their smart home, and this might just be the push that some households need to abandon the Google Pixel ship once and for all and go all in on Apple.

The smart home war is finally heating up

For years, Android users had little reason to glance across the fence, as Apple’s smart home strategy felt disorganized, overpriced, and barely existent. But if Bloomberg’s report proves accurate, Apple under new CEO John Ternus is treating October 13 as a clean slate.

With dedicated hardware, multi-user switching, and a rejuvenated Siri, Apple could be stepping straight into Google’s living room. If Google wants to protect its Nest territory, it needs to fix lingering software quirks in Gemini and Google Home and commit to a true Nest Hub refresh before Apple corners the market and bleeds Google out of its ecosystem.