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Apple's Smart Home Hub Now 'Postponed' Due to Delayed Siri Features

mnsportsgeek said:
Apple is in the mud. The Mac seems to be the only product line with a clear vision at this point.
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Apple sees the Mac as their only realistic growth vector. Everybody that wants an iPhone has one so they're just feeding upgrades - no growth there. Apple won't give up control over iPadOS so that market is very limited. Apple TV+ will probably never turn a profit. We don't even need to mention Vision Pro. The Mac is Apple's only realistic chance for meaningful growth.
 
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tocatlian said:
Apple’s continued delays in delivering a more personalized Siri are more than just an inconvenience. They reflect a deeper failure in both strategy and execution. The company positioned Apple Intelligence as a major leap forward, yet nearly a year after its announcement, its most ambitious AI features remain vaporware.

The issue isn’t just the delay itself. It’s the broader pattern of Apple trailing behind in AI while failing to establish a meaningful presence in the home. Competitors have surged ahead with AI assistants, while Apple’s Siri remains frustratingly limited. Even with the promised upgrades, there’s little indication that Apple is working on an AI-powered 'HomePad' that could redefine its role in the home.

This is not just a missed opportunity; it’s a growing liability. Apple has built its reputation on arriving late to market but delivering industry-defining experiences. That formula worked with the iPhone, Apple Watch, and even AirPods. But AI is different—speed matters, and Apple’s delays risk making it irrelevant in a category that will define the next decade.
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Apple has had since 2011 to work on Siri and make it the best AI system in the world. Instead, laziness and neglect at Apple has caused it to be the worst system, and also the oldest at the same time.
 
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MacRumors said:
At one point, the company had hoped to announce this product in March," he said, in his Power On newsletter today. "But because the device, to an extent, relies on the delayed Siri capabilities, it has been postponed as well."
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Actually, from what I heard from industrial sources, this product was NEVER planned to be announced until WWDC as Apple sees it as new category. So don’t know where Mark was coming with the “March” announcement.

Even the WWDC announcement now seems unlike. Simply put, Apple needs the new Apple Silicon chip with better neural engine in order to get the personalized Siri to run well. (Since this type of AI is going to be first of its kind to run completely on device and not rely on the cloud)
 
I7guy said:
I don’t agree it’s been a disaster. There are some functions and things will get better.
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I agree, it's not been a disaster. The disaster may yet be to come.

This year Gemini will be rolled out, deeply embedded or improved in every Google product and service - from Google Maps to YouTube to Auto to Google Home to Google Nest speakers to Photos to Android itself. It'll be in front of billions of users and people will establish new user habits akin to "Googling". Meanwhile the new Siri may still be years away. This is the next Forstall moment but this time the ramifications could be far more significant.
 
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Lounge vibes 05 said:
You have described exactly the problem they are having.
Most of the people in these comments don’t get it, I’ve seen over and over and over again variations on the same “Google/Open AI could do it in months, why can’t Apple do it in years?”
But neither Google nor open AI have done anything close to what Apple is proposing.
In fact, it’s kind of funny to see people talk about it as “the new Siri” when that’s not what it is at all, that’s barely what it was introduced as.
Yes, the end goal is to make Siri more useful, but even if all of the features shipped on time, it’s not going to make Siri work like GPT, that was never what was promised.
If anything, it wasn’t a next generation Siri, it was the next generation Automator/Shortcuts.

The idea was never that you could ask it any question in the world And it answers it the way Google or GPT would.
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Xiaomi has AI-based assistance since long. Plus they managed to build their cars.
 
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Problem with Apple is they want to do everything in-house. While it's a good thing to have something unique and full control on your products, you just can't rely on everything by yourself. So far I've only seen success with Apple Music for first party solution. But ATV+ and Arcade, or Mac gaming is still a minor services compared to Netflix, Disney and Steam. Apple Maps is still nowhere near Google Maps outside North America, Apple Card is pretty much dead and Apple Pay adoption is growing very slowly.

Ultimately with this AI thing, Apple still nowhere near Gemini or GPT because of its stand on privacy. Funny thing is Apple doesn't think twice when it exposes iPhone user data to Google and all its services. So as long as Apple turns its head the other way.
 
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Does this mean we’ll have to wait even longer for an iOS redesign? We were supposed to get it with iOS 18, but Apple prioritised AI and pushed it back to iOS 19. Now, with iOS 19, and they still try to deliver what they announced for the previous iteration, what’s to happen to the redesign? And if they show us the same things again since they didn’t execute, is there even a point for WWDC?
 
Friends have iPhones and use Alexa. I never understood why until I visited their home and saw what is possible. I just know Siri and Apple Home and my HomePod mini. Now I see how pathetic they are. I can use it to set timers. Can’t do much more. Ask Siri to set a light scene? Can’t do that. Ask Siri to turn up the heat for 15 minutes? Can’t do that. Ask Siri to play Musik from my YouTube music account? Can’t do that.
 
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SBlue1 said:
Friends have iPhones and use Alexa. I never understood why until I visited their home and saw what is possible. I just know Siri and Apple Home and my HomePod mini. Now I see how pathetic they are. I can use it to set timers. Can’t do much more. Ask Siri to set a light scene? Can’t do that. Ask Siri to turn up the heat for 15 minutes? Can’t do that. Ask Siri to play Musik from my YouTube music account? Can’t do that.
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I have an echo with Alexa it’s sitting in the closet. But that is me.
 
Whispy_Snippet said:
I agree, it's not been a disaster. The disaster may yet be to come.

This year Gemini will be rolled out, deeply embedded or improved in every Google product and service - from Google Maps to YouTube to Auto to Google Home to Google Nest speakers to Photos to Android itself. It'll be in front of billions of users and people will establish new user habits akin to "Googling". Meanwhile the new Siri may still be years away. This is the next Forstall moment but this time the ramifications could be far more significant.
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True. Or it could be a disaster for Google, since we are into hypotheticals. I already find the AI summaries generated by google to be mostly not relevant to me a lot of time and I have keep on searching, so I’m thinking this may not the be smooth sailing some thing.

But we’ll see where this goes.
 
Unami said:
To be fair, airpods, the homepod mini, "pro" phones and the transition to m-series chips weren't that unsuccessfull either.
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AirPods are simply headphones.
HomePod Mini… Not a success. Nobody buys them.
M-Series chip…. It’s just ARM.

We’re talking 15 years here.
 
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This article, as some have pointed out, is kinda dumb. People are so pissed about yet another delay from Apple, but they haven’t even announced the product. So, there is no delay. Now, if they announce the product with a launch date and then decide not to launch at that time, then that would be considered a delay.

I’m actually not mad that they are taking their time to get AI right, in terms of finding the proper balance between functionality and privacy. I actually think the new additions are helpful, such as message and email summaries and the ability to have Siri ask ChatGPT for information. All of this will only get better.

People accuse Tim Cook of killing innovation at Apple, so I’d be interested to hear what people think Apple should do next. What else do we need our phones and computers do?

My biggest beef with Apple is HomeKit (HomeShit as I call it). It’s the most unreliable thing ever — from not understanding “turn off kitchen” to constantly losing devices to being incompatible with so many devices. Apple needs to focus on fixing HomeKit issues before releasing any sort of home hub. Do we even need that? Our phone, which we have near us all the time could serve that purpose just fine.

Give me better HomeKit and more reliable Siri, and I’ll be a happy camper.
 
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