Apple’s ambitions for smart home devices keep running into delays, and it seems the next-generation AI rebirth of Siri is to blame. According to Bloomberg, plans for a smart home display have now been pushed back to September, putting it on the same launch list as the debut of the new iPhones in the fall. Some reports call it HomePad while others call it HomePod with Screen or Home Hub.
What’s the big change?
“The product, codenamed J490, was originally planned for spring 2025, but was postponed so that the company could complete work on a new digital assistant Siri – an integral part of the device’s user interface,” the report said. The device, currently in development under the codename J490, was apparently scheduled to debut in March, but it appears those plans have now been pushed back by a few months.
Interestingly, the device’s hardware development has reportedly been completed for months and is just waiting for the major software upgrade that will allow it to run an updated Siri. As a reminder, Apple recently signed a deal with Google to take the Gemini foundations and use them to improve Siri’s conversational capabilities and the way Siri handles user commands.
Apple is pretty far behind in the AI home assistant race. Amazon has already upgraded millions of Echo devices to the new Alexa+ assistant, while Google has also updated its ecosystem to Gemini. Siri, on the other hand, continued to experience delays, affecting Apple’s rollout plan for several smart home devices.
What kind of strange device is this?
Apple’s smart home device will reportedly be a cross between an iPad and a HomePod speaker, albeit in a highly compressed form factor. “The display, which looks like a square iPad that can be attached to either a half-dome speaker base or a wall mount, is designed to be a central AI hub for the home,” Bloomberg adds.
Separately, it has been reported that the device will use a magnetic wall mount system, similar to MagSafe on iPhones. The user interface, on the other hand, is similar to that of an Apple Watch. The most notable aspect of the device is a facial recognition system that detects both faces and voices and accordingly changes the content shown on the screen as users approach the display.
