Apple Smart Home Hub to Feature iMac G4-Style Design

The useful part

Apple's long-rumored smart home hub will have an iMac G4-style design and a host of unique features, Bloomberg 's Mark Gurman reports. The smart home hub is said to feature a square 6-inch display, with variants that can be placed on a countertop or mounted on a wall. It features a single FaceTime camera on the front, with microphones and speakers in its connected base.

How it works

• Users can manually tilt the display forward or backward.
• The hub is about as thick as an iPhone, and its display is surrounded by a quarter-inch, black bezel reminiscent of older iPads.
• The device lacks a battery, so it has to be plugged in at all times, and there are no volume or power buttons.
• The product comes in Apple's standard gray aluminum finish and includes a USB-C port for power.
• The screen sits above a metal, round base with multiple rings of perforated speaker holes and connects to it through a polished metal arm.

What to take from it

Apple has also developed a second version, code-named J491, designed to be mounted on a wall. It has a thin, square-shaped base beneath the display that houses the speakers and microphones.

Details worth keeping

The base has a rubberized bottom to help it stay on a table. The base sits flat on the wall below the screen. This version also must remain connected to power through...