Late last week, Apple delayed its big Siri AI upgrade, and it seems that will take the company’s rumored smart display with it. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter, Apple has postponed the device because it at least partially “relies on the delayed Siri capabilities.” The Verge reported.
It’s been rumored for months now that Apple was planning to release a device early this year that would serve as a smart home hub with a display, similar to devices that its main smart home competitors, Amazon and Google, have both offered for years. The device is expected to be the first Apple smart home hub with support for Apple Intelligence.
Apple said last week that its upgraded smart assistant is taking “longer then we thought” and will be released in the “coming year,” hinting that it may not be an iOS 18 feature as originally promised. The version of Apple Intelligence that we have now doesn’t really offer any smart home features so Apple releasing a smart display that’s wrapped up in the Siri AI wouldn’t make much sense right now.
Engadget reported: It may be a while still before we see the smart home hub Apple is rumored to be working on. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the company has postponed the announcement of the upcoming product due to the issues it’s run into developing its “smarter” Siri.
Gurman reported last month that the release of Apple’s upgraded Siri may be delayed, and Apple confirmed as much in a statement to Daring Fireball last week, saying it it expects to roll out Siri’s more personalized features “in the coming year.” The smart home hub, according to Gurman, “to an extent, relies on the delayed Siri capabilities.”
AppleInsider reported: Apple’s long-rumored Home Hub peripheral is now rumored to be debuting in the second half of 2025, and is allegedly being taken home by select Apple employees for real-world-testing.
Various rumors have suggested that Apple will be making a big push into smart home accessories across the second half of 2025, including the existing Home Key feature for a future smart doorbell. Apple is also working with other manufacturers of smart home accessories to ensure HomeKit compatibility.
A new report from Bloomberg reiterates earlier claims that Apple intended to tie the rise of HomeKit accessories into a smart Home Hub, now with a device code name: J490.
The long-rumored accessory is now likely to wait for its debut until the June WWDC developer conference or later to be officially announced. This may coincide with the existing tvOS changing to become the basis of a future homeOS.
In part, this could explain why due to recently-delay in Siri development — now expected to be a bigger part of iOS and iPadOS 19 along with the next version of macOS, rather than later in the iOS 18 cycle as previously expected.