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Apple Smart Home Hub Launch Possibly Delayed Until Later in Year

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Apple's long-rumoured smart home hub or "command center" may not arrive in the spring as previously expected, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

Apple AI Command Center Concept Mock Gray 3
We've heard various rumors and reports about Apple developing an all-in-one smart home management hub. The device is said to feature a square-shaped 7-inch display, a FaceTime camera and speakers, and a new homeOS operating system with support for several Apple apps. Rumors suggest users will be able to mount it on a wall, but Apple is also designing a dock that will let it sit on a table or desk.

Apple originally planned to introduce the home hub in March 2025. However, writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman says that the device "may take longer to reach consumers," owing to the operating system's heavy reliance on App Intents features that won't be ready until iOS 18.4 and iOS 19. This in itself means "it's plausible that the hardware itself will ship later," adds Gurman.

Gurman's prediction lines up with a December 2024 report by Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo about a so-called "HomePod with a display" in the works with support for Apple Intelligence. Kuo said the device had been delayed and would arrive in the third quarter of 2025.

At the time of Kuo's report, it wasn't clear if the products being discussed were completely different devices (Gurman himself has said Apple is developing several HomePod variants with screens, including one with an iPad-like display and another featuring a screen mounted on a robotic arm). However, the alignment of the two timeframes are beginning to suggest they are one and the same thing. Like Gurman over the weekend, Kuo had said the delay could be attributed to software development challenges, rather than hardware issues.

As a result, Apple could still unveil the smart home hub with an announcement in March, with the actual hardware arriving later in the year, sometime after WWDC 2025. Apple this spring is also expected to announce a next-generation, entry-level iPad with support for Apple Intelligence, an iPhone SE 4, and new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models with M4 chips.

Tags: Apple Command Center Guide, Mark Gurman

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Top Rated Comments

T
tyranne201
22 months ago
Fix trash Siri before. Thanks.
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
9
9081094
22 months ago
What’s the benefit of this besides doing the same on your iPhone or iPad?

Another OS? Even more bugs to sort out 😅

And indeed Siri is braindead at the moment so the delay makes sense. I hope the reanimated Siri lives up to its promise. But really, after 13+ years, my confidence is low.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
D
Dredd67
22 months ago
This looks so much like a solution in search of a problem.
Home automation won't get anywhere (for non enthusiasts) unless the most basic issues are fixed:

1) interoperability and autonomy, not having to rely on hubs (matter should address this... one day)
2) convenience higher than the use of a simple switch or remote for simple usage (has yet to be proven). To this day, it's simpler and more convenient to just get up, press a button, and be sure it will work 100% of time. Hard to overcome this.

Even with both of the above issues fixed, what's the use of this device ?
Automation would come in mind, like building routines, or even better, suggesting routines based on the sensors (time, presence, light, temperature, etc...).
And for this, there's no better solution right now than Home Assistant (I think).

What could Apple bring to the table besides a walled garden approach that would defeat the purpose of issue #1 ?
The only way this would work is if Apple could either come up with a whole range of products (not gonna happen) or understand their homekit standard is not attractive for other brands.

With Apple's DNA and track record this last decade, I can't think of any way this product could work.

Like with gaming, vision pro, carplay 2, etc... it seems Apple is fooling themselves. Something has to change at Cupertino. There are only managers left there, no captain to stear the ship. It's sad, because there are talents in there, but they are muffled.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
goobot Avatar
goobot
22 months ago
I can only hope it leads to improvements with HomeKit
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
9
9081094
22 months ago

Wall-mounting (says the article).
Thread border router capability.
They should make a magnetic wall mount with charger for your iPad or iPhone when at home and not in use and charge it at the same time. Unless this device gives me groundbreaking new possibilities that aren’t available in HomeKit on iPad/iphone I don’t see the use of it. Another device with same possibilities.

But maybe a wonder happens and it’s some breath taking new device. I doubt it 😅
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Big_D Avatar
Big_D
22 months ago

Home automation won't get anywhere (for non enthusiasts) unless the most basic issues are fixed:
The biggest one for me is that it has to work without any additional electronics in the house!

My wife already threatened to throw the HomePod mini out the window, because Siri started talking to her! She won't use the Home app on her iPhone and iPad to switch the lights on and off - that is what the light switch is for - I even bought an extra Philips Hue light switch for the bedroom, that is directly in front of her, when she walks in, but she still reaches along the wall to the "real" light switch every time (rented apartment, so I can't swap out the switches).

I can't use the remote app on my iPhone or iPad, because that is too confusing (the same was true when the TV came with 2 remotes, one had to be packed away in a drawer as a backup).

The only one that hasn't caused a problem was me using a programmable power socket to control the Christmas tree lights - this has now been transferred to a lamp in the hall that turns on in the evenings and early morning.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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