Apple is reportedly ready to make a bigger move into the world of the smart home by releasing a new iPad that's designed to be mounted to a wall.

Apple's smart home play to date has included the Apple TV 4K set-top box and the HomePod, but a new report claims that the company is looking to go a step further - starting with a tablet that would be somewhat different from the ones you're used to.

That report comes from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman who says that Apple's new interest in the smart home world "will start with a tablet product — essentially a low-end iPad — that can control things like thermostats and lights, show video and handle FaceTime chats." Gurman cites unnamed sources "with knowledge of the plans." The report goes on to say that the tablet "could be mounted on walls or elsewhere using magnetic fasteners, positioning it as more of a home gadget than a regular iPad."

Apple has also reportedly discussed the idea of producing larger smart home displays internally, although it isn't clear whether those discussions could result in a future product coming to market.

Apple's iPads can of course be repurposed to do something similar to what Gurman is saying here, all thanks to the Home app and an App Store full of smart home apps. But the idea of something more dictated to the function is an interesting one and immediately makes us think of the Google Nest Hub Max and similar products from Amazon.

Today's news comes after Apple brought the HomePod back from the dead, announcing a new model with much the same feature set and an almost identical price to the one that was deemed a failure before it was discontinued in 2021.

Gurman's Bloomberg report also says that Apple is working on an updated version of the Apple TV that would gain an upgraded CPU but "likely won’t support 8K video streaming."