Apple is expected to introduce a fresh lineup of smart home products on Tuesday, centered on an iPad-style device designed to mount on walls or sit on tabletops and powered by its AI-enhanced Siri assistant, according to Reuters’ Stephen Nellis.
The products aim to let users manage doorbells, thermostats, and smart locks — areas where Apple has experimented for about a decade with limited breakthrough success. Analysts anticipate the announcement may also feature updates to the HomePod smart speaker and Apple TV devices.
The move comes as Apple seeks to counter rivals. Amazon has poured resources into Echo speakers and Ring doorbells and recently released premium tablets, while newer AI-focused companies such as OpenAI pursue hardware of their own. With regulatory scrutiny weighing on Apple’s services business, investors are paying closer attention to hardware sales as a growth driver.
Apple launched its Home app for controlling connected gadgets in 2016 and followed with HomePod speakers in 2018; a late entry into the smart speaker market based on a limited, largely inadequate Siri. Those offerings continue to compete against Alphabet’s Google Home speakers and Amazon’s Echo lineup. Analysts have pointed to two persistent obstacles: ensuring compatibility with a wide range of third-party devices and Siri’s woefully limited ability.
This summer Apple significantly boosted Siri’s capabilities with Siri AI in partnership with Google. Even so, Bob O’Donnell, chief analyst at TECHnalysis Research, told Nellis that setting up a smart home remains too complicated for many Apple customers to perceive clear value. “Advancements in AI should finally help, but the key questions for Apple are, do they have connectivity smarts to simplify the process and are they going to be willing to work across the smart home ecosystem and not just within their own walled garden,” O’Donnell said.
MacDailyNews Take: We’ll know what Apple has p its sleeve very soon!
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