Apple may need to pump the brakes on its planned smart home strategy due to issues with the rollout of Apple Intelligence, the company’s suite of AI tools and on-device intelligence designed to essentially supercharge Siri with AI models from ChatGPT creators OpenAI.
However, the company has reportedly delayed the full rollout of Apple Intelligence, including the smarter Siri, indefinitely. At the same time, the company was once hoping to release a smaller iPad-like smart home hub as early as this month, but that too is likely delayed, reports Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, via The Verge.
Gurman has been breaking Apple news early and often recently, and has been one of the leading sources on Apple’s reported smart home ambitions. In his latest newsletter, Gurman reports that the device was expected to rely upon AI and the smarter Siri, so the reported 6-inch smart home control panel is now another casualty of Apple’s rocky AI rollout.
While the device may be delayed an unknown amount of time, Gurman also reports that the company has opened an “internal testing program” for the device.
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In other social media posts, Gurman says a “fully conversational” Siri may not even be available until 2027.
Lightapalooza took place in late February, and the growth of the event has mirrored the rapid ascension lighting fixtures and controls.
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If these reports about the delays are indeed true, Apple is very far behind in both the AI and smart home game. Amazon just released a more intelligent Alexa capable of more natural conversations and natural language smart home commands, and Google has been slowly bringing its own AI tool Gemini to the Google Home platform.
In the custom home market, major players like Josh.ai and Nice have rolled out their own smart home AI agents. Savant and Snap One’s Control4 integrate deeply with Apple, HomeKit and Siri, so these delays in Apple’s AI products probably aren’t great news to those CEDIA-market power players.
Apple’s smart home tablet is supposed to be a competitor to devices like Amazon’s Echo Show or Google’s Next Hub. Based on previous reporting, the device is expected to run on a modified version of tvOS for smart home devices, have support for native Apple apps and have the ability to take video calls.
In addition to Apple’s rumored smart home display, these delays could impact the company’s future plans for the smart home market, which reportedly include a new HomePod smart speaker, security cameras, a doorbell camera, and possibly even its own TV set.
Interestingly, recent Apple patent filings make reference to professional installers of smart home systems, suggesting that the company would be looking to the professional market for help in distributing and installing its devices.
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