Apple reportedly targeting smart home display release around iOS 27

Apple has been developing a smart home display for years, but the product relies the promised Siri upgrade to ship first. A new report corroborates a recent leak that claims Apple is targeting a smart home display release around iOS 27.

Mark Gurman at Bloomberg reports today that Apple is targeting September as the next earliest launch opportunity for the smart home display product:

Apple had then planned to release the display this month, when it hoped the new Siri would be ready, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. […]

The smart display itself has been finished for several months. But the company is now looking to release it around September, when Apple anticipates that the new Siri will finally be complete.

Today’s report follows a clue dropped last week by leaker Kosutami who suggested that a fall launch was now expected as well.

More recently, the account has shared that it may have a “MagSafe like snap-to-wall feature according to one specific revision of the ongoing prototypes I’ve got seen in person.”

Back to the latest Gurman report, he has also mentioned a wall attachment in his reporting:

The display, which looks like a square iPad that can be either affixed to a half-domed-shaped speaker base or a wall attachment, is designed to be a central AI hub for the home. The user interface includes a list of circular app icons in a similar arrangement to an Apple Watch’s home screen. 

The highlight is a facial recognition-based system that can recognize people when they walk up to the device. With that information, the product can then display personalized data, such as the user’s calendar appointments, reminders, notes, music and news preferences.

Based on that description, it sounds more versatile than products in the same category offered by Amazon.

Earlier this year, Apple signed a deal with Google to use the company’s Gemini AI models as the brains behind enhanced Siri and Apple Intelligence features.

While we haven’t seen those upgrades materialize yet, we’re expecting the new Siri and Apple Intelligence features to start arriving as soon as iOS 26.5 — possibly next month. Apple will reveal iOS 27 shortly after with Apple’s annual WWDC keynote held in June.

You can read the latest report in full at Bloomberg.