Apple postpones smart home display launch to September as Siri overhaul drags on

Apple Postpones Smart Home Display Launch as It Waits for New AI and Siri

Apple Inc.'s artificial intelligence struggles are rippling through its product plans, forcing the company to delay a long-in-the-works smart home display until later this year, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The product, code-named J490, was first scheduled for spring 2025 but was postponed to let the company finish work on a new Siri digital assistant -- an integral piece of the device's interface. Apple had then planned to release the display this month, when it hoped the new Siri would be ready, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. With Siri delayed again, Apple is now postponing the smart home device once more. The predicament underscores the need for Apple to catch up in artificial intelligence. Siri lies at the heart of its AI strategy -- with many future products depending on the technology. But Apple has pushed back long-promised features, including some that were unveiled to consumers nearly two years ago. That's created discord between the tech giant's software and hardware plans. The smart display itself has been finished for several months. But the company is now looking to release it around September, when Apple anticipates that the new Siri will finally be complete. A spokesperson for Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to comment. The display, which looks like a square iPad that can be either affixed to a half-domed-shaped speaker base or a wall attachment, is designed to be a central AI hub for the home. The user interface includes a list of circular app icons in a similar arrangement to an Apple Watch's home screen. The highlight is a facial recognition-based system that can recognize people when they walk up to the device. With that information, the product can then display personalized data, such as the user's calendar appointments, reminders, notes, music and news preferences. Apple is working on a slew of other new AI products, including a pendant, camera-equipped AirPods and smart glasses. Those devices are scheduled for after Siri's anticipated rollout. That means they're unlikely to be affected unless there are further development snags. Apple is aiming to have the all of its new Siri features ready by the time it launches the iPhone 18 Pro in September. The updated Siri will be able to tap users' personal data to better fulfill queries. Apple is also revamping the interface -- and underlying AI models -- to make Siri more of a modern chatbot. The user data features are particularly key to the new home device since it's meant to provide a personalized experience. Apple is currently planning for the smart home display to launch with a variation of tvOS 27, a version of its TV set-top box operating system planned for release in September. Apple's new home operating system is based on the underlying technology found on the Apple TV. Until the recent delays due to Siri, Apple had been planning for the initial home devices to run a variation of tvOS 26, the current Apple TV software. John Ternus, senior vice president of hardware engineering, has been playing a central role in the smart home efforts and sees it as central to the company's future growth. Apple had aimed for all the new Siri features to be ready for its 26.4 software update this year, but is now testing them for the 26.5 and 27 releases, Bloomberg News has reported. The smart home display has a 7-inch screen, a single USB-C port for power, and the classic Apple silver aluminum casing. It will be the first of multiple Apple home devices. A version with a 9-inch screen attached to a robotic limb is planned for next year. There's a small home security sensor in the works as well. Apple has also been working on a new HomePod without a display and an updated Apple TV set-top box, both tied to new artificial intelligence features. The Apple TV hardware hasn't been updated since 2022, though its software got the new Liquid Glass interface last year. The company's smart home rollout is arriving several years after similar products from Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc.'s Google and others. Still, Apple should be able to capitalize on its existing product ecosystem. The company said in January that its user base has topped 2.5 billion. In recent days, Apple has rolled out a flurry of other new products, including the iPhone 17e, a low-cost MacBook Neo, an iPad Air, external monitors, and refreshes to the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. But it didn't discuss any enhancements to its Siri, AI or smart home efforts -- something it had previously been aiming to do by this month.

Apple reportedly delays its planned smart display launch to fall

Mark Gurman at Bloomberg is back with the latest rumors about what's afoot with Apple's future plans, and how its ongoing difficulties with artificial intelligence seem to be creating further delays for its next wave of product launches. His sources say that Apple is expected to postpone the debut of its smart home display until later in 2026, likely September when it often introduces new gadgets. Although the hardware has reportedly been finished for months, this delay is being credited to the company's AI-centric overhaul of Siri still not being complete. The device, internally known as J490, has been one of Apple's many poorly-kept secrets. Rumors about a HomePod smart speaker coupled with a screen first emerged back in 2022 and have resurfaced from time to time in the interim, often with promises that the device's arrival was imminent. The latest claims anticipated that the official announcement was coming this spring, possibly as soon as this month. However, appears to Apple once again be hamstrung by an AI strategy that has left it scrambling to catch up to other industry leaders. Apple has been working to incorporate more AI capabilities into Siri for more than a year as part of its Apple Intelligence package. Gurman reports that the new timeline from Apple aims to have the revamp completed for the launch of the iPhone 18 Pro, which is also expected for September. Apple may unveil this long-awaited Siri-as-chatbot during its WWDC keynote in the summer before it shows up in any devices.

Apple's Nest Hub rival may be delayed again as Siri overhaul drags on

The hardware itself has reportedly been finished for several months, but Apple doesn't want to ship the device without the upgraded Siri experience. Siri sits at the center of Apple's broader AI strategy, and the company has already pushed back several promised features tied to the assistant. The display is described as a square, iPad-like device with a roughly 7-inch screen that can either be mounted on a wall or attached to a half-dome speaker base. It's designed to act as a central hub for controlling smart home devices and accessing information around the house, and reportedly includes facial recognition that can identify who approaches and surface personalized details, such as calendar appointments and music preferences.

Apple's Smart Home Hub Won't Launch Until September as Siri Remains Unfinished

Apple is postponing the launch of its planned smart home hub until September 2026, reports Bloomberg. Apple has pushed back the debut of the home hub multiple times due to ongoing issues with the revamped version of Siri. The hub has a heavy AI focus and it is tied to the more intelligent Siri that Apple has in the works. Prior to realizing the Apple Intelligence version of Siri would not be ready until 2026, Apple planned to launch the home hub in spring 2025. After it became clear Siri would need to be delayed, Apple then aimed for a spring 2026 launch for the home hub because it planned to release Siri in iOS 26.4. Siri is not present in the iOS 26.4 beta because the new version is still not ready, so Apple is now going to hold the home hub until September. Apple is reportedly experiencing issues with Siri accuracy and it hasn't managed to get all of the promised Siri features working reliably. A September launch timeline suggests we are not going to see new Siri capabilities until iOS 27, as September is when iOS 27 will come out. Apple has promised that the new version of Siri will launch in 2026, and as long as it debuts before December, Apple won't miss the timeline that it gave to the public. The smart home hub has apparently been finished and ready to launch for several months, but it can't be released without the Siri update. The device is similar in design to an iPad, but with a 7-inch square display. It can be attached to a wall or used with a speaker base, and there is a camera for facial recognition. The hub can tell when people are in the room and when someone walks up to it, and it will offer content specific to each person in the home. Apple designed it to be an AI hub for controlling smart home products, making calls, viewing apps like Calendar and Reminders, and much more. It is meant to be similar to the Amazon Echo Show, which is an Alexa-enabled speaker with a display. Apple's home hub does not include its own App Store, but it does run Apple apps. It will feature round app icons that are arranged similarly to apps on the Apple Watch, and it will run a version of tvOS 27. Apple first showed off the new version of Siri in June 2024, and planned to launch the features in iOS 18.4. Siri capabilities include personalization, onscreen awareness, and the ability for Siri to do more in and between apps, as well as image generation using Image Playground and a web search feature that summarizes information from web results. The Apple Intelligence Siri updates were meant to be followed by an iOS 27 update that turns Siri into a ChatGPT-style chatbot, but now it seems like all of the new features could come at once in iOS 27. Apple is planning to revamp Siri to make it look and feel more like a chatbot.

Apple's smart home display is apparently delayed, and Siri's late AI rebirth is to blame

Inititally slate for an early 2026 launch, the device has now been pushed by a few months. Apple's smart home device ambitions keep running into delays, and it seems the next-gen AI rebirth of Siri is to blame. According to Bloomberg, plans for a smart home display have now been pushed to September, putting it into the same launch slate as the Fall season debut for new iPhones. Some reports are calling it HomePad, while others refer to it as the HomePod with screen or home hub. What's the big shift? "The product, code-named J490, was first scheduled for spring 2025 but was postponed to let the company finish work on a new Siri digital assistant -- an integral piece of the device's interface," says the report. The device, which is currently in development under the codename J490, was apparently eyeing a March debut, but it seems those plans have now been pushed back by a few months. Interestingly, the hardware development of the device has reportedly been finished for months, and it is only awaiting the big software upgrade that will allow it to run an upgraded Siri. To recall, Apple recently inked a deal with Google to use the Gemini foundations and use them to upgrade the conversational skills of Siri, and how it handles user commands. Recommended Videos Apple is pretty far behind in the race for AI home assistants. Amazon has already switched millions of Echo devices to the new Alexa+ assistant, while Google has also upgraded its ecosystem to Gemini. Siri, on the other hand, has continued to face delays, and it is taking a toll on Apple's launch schedule for multiple smart home devices. What's this peculiar device? Apple's smart home device will reportedly be a mish-mash of an iPad and a HomePod speaker, albeit in a much condensed form factor. "The display, which looks like a square iPad that can be either affixed to a half-domed-shaped speaker base or a wall attachment, is designed to be a central AI hub for the home," adds Bloomberg. Separately, it has been reported that the device will use a magnetic wall mount system, somewhat similar to MagSafe on iPhones. The user interface, on the other hand, will look similar to the one on an Apple Watch. The most notable aspect of the device is a facial recognition system that will identify faces as well as voices, accordingly changing the content appearing on the screen as users come closer to the display.

Apple's Smart Home Display Reportedly Falls Victim To Its Siri Woes

Apple had originally intended to launch its new Smart Home Display as a part of last week's product launch marathon. However, in the face of the ongoing delays related to the rollout of the revamped Siri, Apple has been forced to substantially extend the launch timeline of the new device, as per the latest tidbit from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. For the benefit of those who might not be aware yet, Apple intends to launch a revamped version of Siri this year, bringing the much-delayed in-app actions, personal context awareness, and on-screen awareness to its bespoke voice assistant, thereby, enabling a wide variety of agentic actions across apps, based on personal data and on-screen content. This revamped Siri would be powered by a 1.2-trillion-parameter custom Gemini AI model, dubbed the Foundation Models version 10. Unlike the chatbot Siri that is expected to ship next year with the iOS 27, and run on Google's own TPUs and cloud infrastructure, albeit owned by Apple, the revamped Siri would operate within Apple's Private Cloud Compute framework, where relatively simple AI tasks are performed by using on-device models and the computational resources of the device itself, while the more complex tasks are offloaded to Apple's private cloud servers using encrypted and stateless data for subsequent inference. Of course, this revamped Siri was supposed to launch with the ongoing iOS 26.4 update cadence. However, according to Gurman, Apple has been forced to delay the new Siri's rollout in light of lingering performance-related inconsistencies. This brings us to the core of today's topic. According to Gurman, Apple has delayed the new Smart Home Display, which bears an internal product code J490, as the revamped Siri is not ready yet: "The product, code-named J490, was first scheduled for spring 2025 but was postponed to let the company finish work on a new Siri digital assistant -- an integral piece of the device's interface. Apple had then planned to release the display this month, when it hoped the new Siri would be ready, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. With Siri delayed again, Apple is now postponing the smart home device once more." Do note that Apple's new Smart Home Display resembles an iPad and can be mounted onto a dome-shaped speaker base or affixed to a wall attachment. It sports a 7-inch screen, a single USB-C port, and an aluminum casing. Its star feature is its facial recognition ability, with the system able to identify individuals as they walk up to the device, and displays personalized content as per the preference of each recognized individual. As for its UI, the Smart Home Display is expected to launch with a variant of the tvOS 27, and features circular app icons akin to the Apple Watch's home screen. According to Gurman, the revamped Siri would ship by September 2026, when Apple is expected to debut its iPhone 18 Pro lineup alongside the iPhone Fold. As such, we can reasonably expect the Apple Smart Home Display to launch around the fall of 2026.