Apple's 2026 Smart Home Revamp: All the Rumors

[SFjohn]

An Apple doorbell sounds good… 👍🏻

 

[Boeingfan]

This will be a device like the Amazon Echo Show 10, mostly intended to be voice-controlled, but with a touchscreen for more involved and precise operation when needed:

The rumored upcoming next-gen Google Nest Hub will likely be similar to that as well.

I hope I'm wrong, but also, potentially... Ads! Hooray for ads! (NOT). Advertisers are bending over backwards to have your whole home lit up like Times Square. Perhaps we could have the Siri Google Gemini Aquarius home hub on the kitchen island facing the Samsung fridge with the screen, and they can see and talk to each other overnight for company. Maybe they could put a screen onto a Thermomix and add some arms so that all we have to do is put the ingredients into glass bowls and it does all the prep and cooking. What if the Apple home hub could ask the fridge if it has some eggs, milk, capsicum, ham, and spinach in stock so that the home hub can recommend a frittata or omelette for breakfast
Ugh, the possibilities are endless! I need to lie down, it's all too exciting 😁

 

[svish]

Think it will launch at $399. Looks like it will replace the standard HomePod. Waiting to see the new device. Hopefully Siri will be much better than it is now when it launches. Also waiting to see the new Apple security camera. Will be having all the privacy features and I think it will sell well.

 

[Brien]

I was cleaning at a client's office and they had these table-top all-screen devices on the table that were connected to projectors. Walking into the room activated the device automatically. It was quite neat!

View attachment 2576539

The price? $1600 — for just THIS one device! Projector not included.

Apple may not be first to implement such a screen-based device that lives in a fixed position, but they'll definitely come out with an amazing device at a better price than this!

Logitech has a few overpriced enterprise/business devices. My last job had what amounted to a wall-mounted soundbar + webcam combo. It was several thousands of dollars…

 

[MidwestMacGuy]

“Smarter more capable Siri.” I certainly hope so over the last couple of days dictating a text, Siri was incapable of picking the right form of two, too, or to in a sentence where the context should’ve been easy to figure out which one to use. Then another text I sent I use the word “would you,” but Siri came back with “Wood you.” yes for some reason it picks a capital W. And since I use Siri to dictate this post, it made the same mistakes again. If this is the future of AI, Apple is in serious trouble.

 

[1rottenapple]

I have a lot of reservations adding unnecessary displays in my home. Some times I don’t need constant display in my home. Do I really need to see the outdoor temperature or cameras all the time? Same with fridges with displays I’m really not a fan. I have a few smart home devices but I’m pretty happy with my current setup (smart lock, garage, alarm, nest thermostat, 2 cameras).

 

[tmanto02]

Struggling to understand the benefit of a centralised ‘command centre’ for smart homes. If I need a screen I use my phone/ipad that I have on my person.

 

[troller]

Maybe it’s just me, but… another device, for what, exactly?
Why not integrate this into Apple TV and use it as an AI smart-home hub, accessible from my other devices like the iPad, which I can place wherever I need it? Why another box? Oh, right, shareholders over customers.
I’m almost sorry to say this as a long-time, laid-back Apple fan, but if I didn’t love my Mac Studio and macOS so much, 2025 would be the year I’d say no to these salami-slice releases and the “wow, the button looks different now” news. I’m tired