Apple's Most Significant Product This Year May Not Be What You Expect
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Posted January 26, 2025 at 5:06pm by iClarified
Apple's most significant launch of the year may not be the rumored new iPhone 17 Air, but rather an all-new smart home hub built to deliver AI-driven features to households.
In a recent newsletter to subscribers, Mark Gurman reiterates his prediction that in 2025, Apple will enter a new market segment with its Home Hub. The device will function like a smaller and more affordable iPad, capable of controlling appliances, making FaceTime calls, and handling other tasks.
It's essentially a HomePod with a roughly 7-inch screen. I still consider it Apple's most significant release of the year because it's the first step toward a bigger role in the smart home. The hub provides another platform for AI features and should be followed by a higher-end version in a few years. That souped-up model is expected to include a robotic limb to allow the screen to follow a user around a room.
Last year, Gurman predicted that the device would resemble a square iPad with a 6-inch screen, featuring a thick bezel, a top-mounted camera, a built-in rechargeable battery, and internal speakers. The hub will allegedly run a new operating system, codenamed Pebble, and include sensors to detect a user's proximity. The interface is said to be a blend of watchOS and iPhone StandBy mode, although Apple wants users to primarily interact with it via Siri.
The higher-end product referenced will allegedly be a tabletop device for the home that combines an iPad-like display with a robot arm. Actuators will allow the display to tilt up and down and rotate 360 degrees. Apple has allegedly prioritized the development of this device, with reports suggesting it could debut as early as 2026 or 2027. The company is reportedly aiming to price it around $1,000.
To enhance the functionality of these devices and further its integration into the smart home ecosystem, Apple is also said to be working on its own smart doorbell with Face ID and a security camera. If the launch of a Home Hub this year leads to an expansion into a line of smart home accessories, it could indeed be Apple's most significant product release of the year.