Apple's smart home hub could arrive next month

It will be at the center of Apple's expansion into smart home technology.

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Apple's long-awaited Home Hub will reportedly arrive on October 13th, according to Bloomberg's reliable Apple whisperer Mark Gurman. The Echo Show-like device, rumored for a couple of years, will be at the center of Apple's expansion into smart home technology and be a key launch for Apple's newly minted CEO, John Ternus. 

Gurman predicted that a home hub device with a display, camera and microphone was nearly ready, and such a device recently appeared in macOS Tahoe 27.6 under the code-name J490 as well. The home hub will supposedly be in the form of a 6-inch square display, with both countertop and wall-mounted versions, according to Gurman's sources, who asked not to be identified. It may resemble the 2002 iMac, the one with a pivoting display that sat on a half-sphere base. 

Another product in development, according to Gurman, is an updated home hub version with a bigger nine-inch display and robotic arm. As we noted previously, the home hub will run an OS that combines features from several other Apple operating systems, and be a showcase for the new Siri AI assistant. It will use face and voice recognition to display personalized content based on who is talking to it or approaching it. The interface will then be adapted to the speaker, and change automatically when another recognized person approaches. It will also feature a visitor mode that hides personal information. 

Facial recognition won't be as accurate as FaceID on an iPhone, and users can set it up for secondary authentication if they don't want to rely on the device's ID systems. It will come with a white ring light to better illuminate the user. 

The new device can be used to control thermostats, door locks and other connected devices, according to the report. Owners will also be able to do video calls, intercom communications with multiple devices, iCloud photo slide shows and, of course, music streaming. Apple also sees it as an information hub for kitchens that would allow users to look up recipes, watch videos or make FaceTime calls while cooking. 

Apple's home hub device was supposed to launch back in 2024, but was reportedly delayed by much-publicized problems with Apple Intelligence. With the new Siri AI finally launching this month, it looks like Apple's smart display home device may finally arrive as well.