Could a HomePod with a screen finally be coming?
No, the coolest addition is the new nightstand-friendly StandBy mode.
Let’s take a look.
An iPhone with iOS 17 in StandBy Mode (aka Nightstand Mode).Apple
Your iPhone Nightstand Companion
Using StandBy is a typical Apple experience.
You just put your iPhone on a charger in landscape orientation, and it switches on.
It’s the same as theApple Watch’s Nightstand Mode.
The clock and calendar display in iOS 17 StandBy Mode.Apple
Well, that part’s the same.
Unlike the watch version, StandBy is super customizable.
And unlike the Apple Watch’s lame faces, the StandBy options are all beautiful.
iOS 17 StandBy Mode displayed on an iPhone on a desk.Apple
But you’re free to also choose to display full-screen widgets.
This lets you use the iPhone as an ambient status board during the day.
You might put your to-do list on there.
Or use it to show sleeve art for the currently-playing song, alongside play/pause and skip controls.
Or see the results of a Siri request.
And there’s one more thing.
But that’s not all.
Apple has also developed DockKit, a set of tools that let developers create motorized mounts for the iPhone.
Set in a motorized stand, your phone could follow you around the room so it always faces you.
Or it could turn to face you only when you geta FaceTime call.
This brings us to one curiously obvious hole in Apple’s lineup:a home hub with a screen.
iPhone user and StandBy fanTheKDubsaid in aMacRumors forum threadparticipated in by Lifewire.
Take another look at what StandBy can do, and then imagine that on a HomePod with a screen.
All the pieces are in place.
It just needs a sleek aluminum and plastic box to hold them.
