What price though? It’s Apple, they’re going to price themselves out of this niche market.
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Apple's Smart Home Hub Won't Launch Until September as Siri Remains Unfinished
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What price though? It’s Apple, they’re going to price themselves out of this niche market.
Mere WEEKS after saying it would be out in May. I’m guessing he’s been reading what the unpaid folks have been saying in comments and realized, “Huh, they really do only announce major updates to Siri at WWDC… Even if someone told me they were 100% confident it would be in 26.4, why would I even believe that? Then, why would I believe it would be May? That settles it, I’m going to source my rumors from the internet instead of my dreams from now on!”
jarman92
macrumors 68020
jarman92
macrumors 68020
This is such cope. Apple didn’t announce a specific date, sure, but it’s very obvious they didn’t intend to release these features with iOS 27 otherwise they wouldn’t have said “we anticipate rolling these features out in the coming year” (paraphrase).
IIGS User
macrumors 65816
Siri must be more of a hot mess behind the scenes than anyone possibly imagined.
It’s time to move on from what has become Apple’s version of the Zoom player and start from scratch. No one trusts Siri, it’s an absolute joke, and it gets things wrong about 80% of the time.
People don’t try to name a new ship “Carnival Triumph” for a reason. It was a disaster.
Siri is a “poop cruise”. Let it go
It’s time to move on from what has become Apple’s version of the Zoom player and start from scratch. No one trusts Siri, it’s an absolute joke, and it gets things wrong about 80% of the time.
People don’t try to name a new ship “Carnival Triumph” for a reason. It was a disaster.
Siri is a “poop cruise”. Let it go
Is there even a market for this Smart home tablet / speaker?
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.
Article Link: Apple's Smart Home Hub Won't Launch Until September as Siri Remains Unfinished
Or are Apple just trying to please investors by saying they have AI powered phones, macs, tablets and smart home devices.
By all means HomePod mini 2 and HomePod 3s with LLM Siri makes sense as Siri was the supposed to be one of the two driving forces behind the product.
Just unfortunately Apple forgot that a smart assistant speaker has to have a smart assistant.
So in the end we just got a decent but unfortunately locked down speaker.
That's impossible to answer without knowing the features and the price. If it's $2 million there's no chance I'll buy it. If it's $2000, there's only a slim chance I buy it unless it's a full computer (e.g., iMac) with enough features to justify the price for me. If it's $500, it depends on what it does and is. If it's $200, it depends on what it does and is.
This is all just guessing without knowing what it is and how it's priced. If you can tell me what it is, what its functions will be, and what the price will be, I can tell you whether I'd buy it.
The Game 161
macrumors Nehalem
Astuces iOS
macrumors 68020
alfonsog
macrumors 6502a
So it was ready to go 2 years ago and it's waiting on Siri, I even read a rumor that they were already manufactured in boxes ready to be updated and go... they are going to sell this with 2-3 year old chips and tech. Does it really matter though, does anyone even know what chips/ram/storage are in an echo show... I wonder if Apple will go for the mass market and price it ala Neo or go for the AVP market.
I bet the hardware team is probably already working on gen 3...
I bet the hardware team is probably already working on gen 3...
jz0309
macrumors P6
we're talking about the "Homepad" here, that particular rumored product, not about "Apple Intelligence" ...
eclipse01
macrumors 68030
If its Apple's version of the Skylight I would be very interested. If its essentially an Ipad (home/Siri), then not so much. I want a custom UI that is unique vs just IPad OS.
dustin.haley
macrumors member
That HomePad is specifically tied to new features with Apple Intelligence, as reported in the article. If Siri is the main way of interacting with the device, and new Siri isn’t ready, makes sense to delay further (unfortunately).
Neil Harrison
macrumors 6502a
Neil Harrison
macrumors 6502a
Yes there is a market..many smart home producers have some form of display hub, SwitchBot,Aqara, eufy. Amazon has the echo. Having this which would be a real hub instead of Apple TV for example would be a huge upgrade and my guess is they will interoperate like HomePods do intercom for example. If Apple get this right (which I doubt) it could be a huge step forward
Zeus2018
macrumors member
Apple has provided no credible evidence that Siri will meet its September deadline. In fact, recent developments strongly suggest the opposite. The prolonged delays have turned Siri into a punchline across the industry—and, unfortunately, Apple’s credibility on AI assistants along with it.
"Who asked for a thousand songs in your pocket?" The retort by many MR readers after Jobs introduced iPod.
Prediction…. The new Siri won’t be ready for anyos27 either and will keep getting delayed.
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.
Article Link: Apple's Smart Home Hub Won't Launch Until September as Siri Remains Unfinished
Gurman is not to blame for Apple falsifying Siri features in their 2024 ad campaign.
Glad you put the year in the article. I saw the headline and wondered which year or decade September might fall into.
