A forecast has emerged that Apple could unveil a higher-end version of its smart home display "HomeView" with a robotic arm as early as next year.

On Oct. 18, IT outlet 9to5Mac reported that Bloomberg's Mark Gurman (마크 거먼) raised the possibility in his "Power On" newsletter that Apple could release a new product with improved performance over the existing HomeView.

Apple recently launched the HomeView smart home display for $299. The launch was also said to have been delayed as development of a more advanced Siri was pushed back. After its release, one cited inconvenience was that when several people sit around a table using it, the user has to move the device 직접ly to change the screen's direction.

The next model is expected to focus on addressing those limitations. Gurman said the new product could be added as a higher-end model rather than replace the existing HomeView. The product name could be "HomeView Pro", but it has not been decided.

The new model is said to have a larger display than the existing product and be able to rotate 360 degrees, beyond a limited tilting range. That makes it more likely to be priced higher than $299 rather than match the HomeView's price.

Apple is also said to be reviewing a function that uses voice recognition so the robotic arm adjusts its direction toward the speaker. The approach identifies who is speaking when several people are present and turns the screen toward that person. This can be seen as a further developed form of the Center Stage camera feature applied to some recent Apple products.

Apple is said to have been developing robot-related products for some time. The latest details disclosed are limited to an expected release timeline and some functions. The actual timing, the final product name and how the robotic arm will work have not been confirmed.