A report claims that a supplier has been picked for the display for a new HomePod with screen — perhaps fulfilling a prediction made almost two years ago.
HomePod with touch screen displays have been running for a long time, with a release date always seemingly six months or more away. However, if a report on Friday morning by DigiTimes is to be believed, Apple has picked a supplier for the screen.
Tianma, a Chinese screen manufacturer, has reportedly been picked to supply the OLED screen for the long-rumored device. And, a company also said to be attached to the project, BYD, is said to be the only assembler of the product.
At present, Tianma appears to mostly supply the automotive industry with displays. They supply more than OLED, with supply lines for MicroLED, and touch screen layering on existing screens. The company is well-established in China, with a large US presence as well.
The company was predicted to be a supplier for the HomePod screen by none other than Ming Chi Kuo almost two years ago. In a prediction made in March 2023, Kuo was particular about what he believed was coming.
“I predict that Apple will unveil a redesigned HomePod featuring a 7-inch panel in 1H24, with Tianma as the exclusive panel supplier,” he said at the time. “The HomePod, which equips a panel, could enable tighter integration with Apple’s other hardware products, marking a significant shift in the company’s smart home strategy.”
While the timetable has dramatically shifted, the accuracy in which he picked the supplier is of note. Tianma was predicted to enter the iPad supply chain if things went well, but as of January 2025, they are not an Apple supplier.
DigiTimes has good sources within Apple’s supply chain, but is notably less accurate as it pertains to Apple’s timelines. Friday’s report is more the former than the latter kind of report.
HomePod with screen rumors have been going on for some time
The screen-enabled HomePod is thought to be similar in concept to others produced by rival smart speaker producers, and could offer consumers similar functionality. As well as giving visual control over functions, the display could potentially play media back to users, access to smart home functions via the Home app, or even handle FaceTime calls if it includes a camera.
In code references spotted in mid-February 2024, the tvOS 17.4 developer beta 3 issued by Apple at the time refers to a new device by the name “Z314.”
The unreleased item is capable of running tvOS, which both Apple TV hardware and HomePods effectively use. However, the HomePod version is designed to not include a user interface, due to a lack of screen.
As part of that beta, the HomePod firmware got SwiftUI frameworks, as well as the hangtracerd tool for UI debugging in iOS apps. It seems unlikely that Apple would include that functionality unless it was preparing a HomePod that could use it.
The Z314 shown in code was said to be running an A15 Bionic chip, and with internal and production versions apparently being tested. Given how much time has passed and the fact that the A16 is likely in production in Arizona now, we suspect that this may get the newer processor if it arrives in 2025.
Apple has also considered a HomePod with a small touchscreen, with a prototype from late 2023 claimed to be an actively-worked-on inbound product rather than a cast-off prototype.
This story originally appeared on Appleinsider
