Apple, which has treated smart home products like a hobby for years, is reportedly ready to start aggressively exploring the market. New home devices and a new strategy centered around Apple Intelligence are in the works. Here’s what will happen in 2025 and beyond.
Apple’s new home strategy has three pillars.
in his latest work power on In the newsletter, Mark Garman outlined Apple’s plans for a new large-scale smart home push starting in 2025.
He detailed the three pillars of this new approach.
- Apple Intelligence with a focus on Siri
- homeOS, a new software platform built on tvOS
- Matter enables wide accessory compatibility
One of the most interesting pieces of information concerns how Apple plans to leverage AI as part of its future smart home products.
The company’s goal is to use the new Apple Intelligence platform to provide powerful home automation and precise control over apps, devices, and media. At the core of Apple Intelligence is the new App Intents system that allows the Siri digital assistant to interact with features within apps.
Siri won’t be able to perform hundreds of new app actions until next spring. But based on the details Apple has released so far, this upgrade could bring a number of new features to the Assistant.
Imagine being able to perform a huge range of actions on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac just by speaking out loud anywhere in your home without actually touching those devices.
Smart displays with Apple Intelligence expected in 2025
This new Siri feature may be especially suited for new Apple home devices.
This is where the smart displays we expect in 2025 come into play.
Gourmand is like this.
One of the first big steps is to release a new smart display. This is what people can use to play TV+ streaming content, make FaceTime calls, surf the web, and access apps like Calendar and Notes. It’s an affordable iPad-like screen, and consumers will be able to keep multiple units around the house, like the HomePod mini.
According to our own reports, the product may feature a square rather than a rectangular display and be powered by an A18 chip.
I’d love to see Apple Intelligence in the existing HomePod as well, but this is poised to be a strong selling point for Apple’s new smart home push and its new products.
Garman says smart displays don’t necessarily offer the best sound quality. Rather, it appears to complement rather than replace your existing HomePod.
However, future more expensive smart home products will offer a better music experience.
The tabletop device, expected to be released later, will be more expensive, likely around $1,000, and will focus on home security monitoring, advanced video conferencing, and media playback with high-quality audio. The screen is placed on top of the rotating robot’s limbs, making it stand out from competitors’ products.
It’s unclear how this expensive device will differentiate itself for home security or video conferencing purposes. However, “media playback with high quality sound” is completely understandable.
It seems that low-end smart displays may be positioned like the HomePod mini. It’s affordable, but compromises must be made to reach that budget.
High-end devices will resemble a full-sized HomePod with advanced features such as better sound quality.
Apple Intelligence Smart Home: Summary
It’s encouraging to hear that Apple is planning a more aggressive approach to the smart home market. Apple TV 4K and HomePod have a loyal fan base, myself included, but there’s still a lot of potential for more diverse and powerful smart home products.
With Apple Intelligence at the heart of these devices, we’re excited to see what’s possible.
Curious about Apple’s smart home plans? What are you most looking forward to? Let us know in the comments.
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