After a long silence, it looks like Apple might finally be ready to re-enter the smart home market, but has it learned from past mistakes?
The company has been out of the smart home game for a long time (it's been silent on the topic since the arrival of the HomePod 2 in January of last year), but according to Agency's resident Apple expert Mark Gurman, it's ready to make a comeback. to submerge. It arrives with a bunch of new devices and a new operating system. Gurman (a reliable source of insider information) suggests that homeOS will be the connective tissue that ties together a series of smart displays spread throughout the home, plus additional devices like a table-mounted robotic arm.
We first heard rumors about homeOS in January of this year, when the name appeared in a beta version of Apple's TV operating system, but now Gurman suggests it's likely to appear in the next two years.
It's an interesting strategy. As Gurman points out, Apple's previous attempts to make its way into our living rooms, kitchens, and bedrooms failed thanks to its focus on “premium products that operate in a closed ecosystem.” So why develop another proprietary operating system, especially when Apple has contributed to the Matter standard for smart homes to solve the compatibility problem between smart home devices of different brands? Many people who might consider spreading Apple's smart displays around their homes will have already invested in a different system, so why should they ditch their cheap Amazon Echo speakers in favor of something that's likely to be much more expensive?
Why a new operating system?
Gurman suggests that Apple's new displays will be affordable, but are unlikely to undercut Amazon, a company that reportedly lost $25 billion on Echo speakers between 2017 and 2021. Instead, the difference will likely be Apple Intelligence.
It seems likely that certain features of its new smart home technology will only be available to those who are fully invested in Apple's ecosystem, in the same way that people with a Windows laptop and an iPhone won't enjoy the same functionality. which they would enjoy if you switched to a MacBook, and Android phone owners get a stunted experience if they try to use a pair of AirPods Pro.
Apple's new smart displays are likely to use Apple Intelligence to blur the lines between your phone and your home, allowing a smarter version of Siri to follow you wherever you go, transferring to your smart displays when you return from work, and taking everything he did during the day with him. All of your personal information, preferences, messages, and more will flow between the two of you, without any effort on your part, in a way that it wouldn't if your home was filled with a diverse selection of devices from different brands. .
It has been suggested that Amazon could try to recoup some of its speaker-related losses by introducing a premium AI-powered Alexa subscription. However, Apple has no plans to start charging Apple Intelligence until at least 2027, which could give it the upper hand. Let's hope they fix the terrible state of the Home app first.
iPhone owners will get their first taste of Apple Intelligence when iOS 18.1 launches later this month, and TechRadar's AI channel is the best place to find the latest news and previews of new features coming soon.