Apple HomePod speaker with a built-in display surfaces in tvOS 17.4 beta 3،
What do you get when you combine an iPad with a HomePod? It seems we are about to discover 9to5Mac said to have seen references to an unreleased Apple device with a screen in the recently released third tvOS 17.4 developer beta. There has been speculation that Apple will release a new HomePod smart speaker equipped with a 7-inch screen.
Within Apple, the company reportedly tinkered with running tvOS on a modified iPad mini to test how a HomePod with a built-in display would work. The code in tvOS 17.4 beta 3 shows the existence of a new device with code number “Z314” which would run tvOS. Apple TV and HomePod run on tvOS, although the version the smart speaker uses obviously doesn't include a user interface.
Apple tested the iPad mini 6 with tvOS as it plans to build a HomePod smart speaker with a built-in display
The HomePod with integrated display is powered by an A15 Bionic application processor (AP) according to 9to5Mac, which happens to be the same AP under the hood of the iPad mini 6. The code also reveals that Apple has built a version of production of the device. Apple also added a system tool to the HomePod version of tvOS that squashes bugs from unresponsive user interfaces. The only reason the HomePod would need such a tool would be due to a built-in display.
