- A 6.7-inch OLED screen is predicted
- This fits with other competing smart displays
- The device is rumored to be launching in 2025
We still don’t know what Apple is going to call its first smart display, but it seems that some kind of HomePod-meets-iPad device is almost certainly on the way – and we just got a bit more information about its screen in a new leak.
According to South Korean outlet Seoul Economic Daily (via @Jukanlosreve), the OLED display on the upcoming smart home gadget is going to be fitted with low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) technology.
That’s not quite as advanced as the low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) version of OLED – which enables variable refresh rates and always-on displays on the best iPhones – but it’s good enough for a smart home display, and it’s also cheaper to manufacture.
We get one more tidbit out of this report: the screen size is apparently going to be 6.7 inches. That would make it smaller than the 6.9-inch display on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and the 8.3-inch display on the iPad mini 7.
Taking on Amazon and Google
That screen size is perhaps smaller than you might have imagined based on something like the Amazon Echo Show 10, but it’s in line with previous predictions, as well as fitting in with what Amazon and Google are doing.
The Echo Show is available in a variety of different sizes, while Google has the 7-inch Nest Hub and the 10-inch Nest Hub Max. With that in mind, Apple’s offering would be towards the smaller end of the smart display scale.
There’s been talk that the display will be on a movable arm (think the old iMac G4), attached to a rounded base. A smart home controller screen from Apple – without a speaker fixed to it – has also been rumored.
After years of rumors, it would seem that a launch is now approaching. We recently heard that the launch date had been pushed back to the second half of 2025, though it’s possible we might get some kind of reveal earlier in the year.