Apple Considered Adding a Camera to the HomePod Years Ago - MacRumors
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Apple Considered Adding a Camera to the HomePod Years Ago

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Apple considered launching a HomePod with a camera and additional sensors years before the upcoming "HomePad" device, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.

Full HomePod Black
In a detailed profile of Apple's hardware engineering chief John Ternus, Gurman revealed that Apple considered adding a camera and a more advanced array of sensors to the original ‌HomePod‌, which was announced in 2017. Ternus apparently believed that the additional capabilities would push up development costs and decided to cancel the features as a result.

Ternus was said to be reluctant to invest deeply in smart home devices when the first leading products from Amazon and Google arrived on the market around a decade ago. He subsequently took "some responsibility" for Apple falling behind in the smart home category.

Now, Ternus is leading Apple's efforts to re-establish itself in the smart home market with three new products, including an AI-powered smart home hub with facial recognition (J490), a small sensor for managing home security (J450), and a robotic device (J595). The smart home hub, dubbed "HomePad" in some reports, is expected to launch in the fall of 2026.

Related Roundup: HomePod
Tags: Bloomberg, John Ternus, Mark Gurman
Buyer's Guide: HomePod (Neutral)

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Top Rated Comments

Pitogyro Avatar
Pitogyro
9 hours ago at 06:20 am
"He subsequently took "some responsibility" for Apple falling behind in the smart home category."

How on Earth can that be substantiated? Did he send an email of apology to the rest of the leadership team and Gurman got hold of it? Did he agree to forgo his annual bonus? The amount of sensationalist drivel that comes out of Gurman's mouth that's being published as gospel by everyone beggars belief. I read the entire article and there's literally nothing that's actual, substantial news.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
P
pcd213
9 hours ago at 06:35 am
Just make a doorbell.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
R
RoadWarrior56
9 hours ago at 06:29 am
Why in the world would anybody want or need to put a camera on a speaker? If I were actually in the market for a speaker like a HomePod, a camera would be a deal killer for me. We have too many cameras everywhere as it is, and many of them, we don't know about. I could keep this rant on cameras going on, but I will stop.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
R
rymc02
7 hours ago at 08:06 am
Bring back the Airport but make it a whole home hub. Make it a mesh network router with WIFI 7. Let it handle downloading updates for all the devices on the network to push them out at night. Have it do wireless Time Machine backups for all Macs on network. If Apple starts making security cameras it can handle storing all the footage for easy recall and playback.

It doesn't even need a screen or a camera.

And if Apple wanted to get really wild, allow us to connect extra storage!!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
K
Kidseeghost
9 hours ago at 06:22 am
For what reason? These things flopped anyway. Adding more spy ware wouldn’t change it. It was too expensive and the main feature was bad. Also the era of smart assistants is over. I see more and more people ditching their smart speakers.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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Falco McGregor
7 hours ago at 08:19 am

I love these “Hey, wanna know how much insider information I have? I know about stuff that was never released! And you KNOW it’s true because it was never released! Did you know that Apple once considered shipping AirPods with a shoe horn? BUT THEY DIDN’T!”

(Bloomberg asked me to write something about Ternus that would get attention, this is the best I could do because I don’t know anyone inside Apple anymore…)

Amazon lost BILLIONS on those “first leading products”. I’m pretty sure no one inside Apple is telling Ternus “YOU are PERSONALLY responsible for US not losing those billions!!”
^This. Also hot take: Apple was right to kill its EV car project. The market conditions for that product, especially in the US and elsewhere around the world given fierce competition from Chinese manufacturers, are dire.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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