Apple’s long-delayed smart home display is now far enough along that it is being tested in employees’ homes and could be introduced as early as next month, according to Bloomberg News‘ Mark Gurman.
The device, known internally as J490, is the hardware expression of Apple’s new “intelligent personal hub” strategy. At last week’s iPhone event, new CEO John Ternus described an ideal AI device that gathers a person’s apps, services, and daily context in one place — then said that device already exists, and that it is the iPhone. Gurman reports that some people inside Apple expected him to unveil the home product instead. The iPhone remains the mobile center of that strategy. The hub is meant to play the same role at home.
Gurman describes a roughly square screen, about seven inches, that is smaller than an Amazon Echo Show. One version sits on a stand that looks like a HomePod mini cut in half. Another attaches to a wall with a magnetic mount. Apple intends households to use more than one unit. Setup is designed to pair with an iPhone.
The interface is a mashup of iOS, tvOS, and watchOS: a home screen, widgets, and clock faces similar to the Apple Watch or the iPhone Duo’s StandBy mode. The standout hardware feature is facial recognition through the front camera, without the depth sensor Face ID normally requires. The display is meant to identify who is looking at it and personalize calendars, notes, news, music, podcasts, and other content. Reports have also suggested the interface could change based on how far a person is standing from the screen.
Siri is the reason the product waited. Apple had planned a home hub as far back as 2024 and held it until the assistant was good enough. Siri AI arrived this month with iOS 27. On the hub, Gurman says, Siri is supposed to search across devices and accounts, retrieve a podcast or song someone sent earlier, surface a photo, and carry out precise tasks in Notes, Reminders, and Calendar. The device is also expected to handle Home controls, FaceTime, intercom, security cameras, and media.
The launch window remains October through early 2027. A fall debut would line up with refreshed HomePod mini and Apple TV hardware that can also run the new assistant. Price has not been confirmed in the latest reporting. Earlier accounts have put a tabletop version near the mid-$300 range, but that figure has not been freshly verified.
MacDailyNews Take: Siri AI is good. Surprisingly good in many ways already. We’d love to have a home hub with Siri AI at its center that can do more than HomePod.
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