Apple this 12 months launched the second era HomePod, two years after discontinuing the primary era of its full-size sensible speaker. Since then, there have been rumors about Apple creating many HomePod prototypes, a few of them with an LCD show. Images of considered one of these prototypes have now surfaced on the internet, and we are able to verify that these pictures are from an actual prototype.

Pictures present HomePod prototype with LCD show

The Apple prototype collector often called Kosutami shared photographs of parts from an unreleased HomePod this morning, and curiously, there’s a big contact display sensor on the prime, with a a lot bigger space than the present HomePod panel. Then Kosutami shared a photograph of a prototype HomePod that has a completely practical LCD show on prime.

The photographs are fairly intriguing, particularly as there aren’t many particulars about them apart from Kosutami saying that the design of those leaked HomePods is extra just like the second era than the discontinued first era.

9to5Mac was capable of confirm the legitimacy of those photographs with our personal sources, and we realized extra particulars about this HomePod with an LCD show. Codenamed B720, this prototype is being actively labored on by Apple, which confirms that we’re speaking a few new product, and never one thing that the corporate has experimented with previously.

Though Apple hasn’t but determined when (or if) this HomePod will see the sunshine of day, B720 is an advanced-stage prototype, which means that it’s one thing the corporate plans to introduce within the close to future.

Right here’s what we all know

To make the most of the brand new HomePod show, Apple has been rewriting a few of the tvOS apps in order that they’ll run on completely different show codecs, one thing that wouldn’t be vital in the present day since just about all TVs have the identical side ratio. It’s price noting that HomePod runs a modified model of tvOS with no consumer interface.

There’s proof within the tvOS 17 code that Apple Music and Apple Podcasts are the primary apps being rewritten to be suitable with a brand new show format. The LcdUTest app proven within the picture shared by Kosutami is an inner app utilized by engineers to check the brand new show.

It’s nonetheless too early to know what the interface will seem like, however 9to5Mac has realized that the HomePod show will present a blurred animation based mostly on the colours of the album artwork when a track or podcast is enjoying. There are additionally hints that it’ll present some essential notifications, doubtlessly to reply cellphone calls and reply to messages.

Once more, this HomePod is a prototype and may very well be scrapped at any time, however it does seem to be a possible candidate to grow to be the following era HomePod, at any time when Apple decides to replace it.