Apple is testing its competitor to Amazon's Echo Hub and Google's Nest Hub internally. However, delays in Siri's development have derailed a formal launch.

Apple has pushed back the launch of its rumored smart home hub due to delayed Siri features, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman

We’ve all heard about the unexpected delays with Apple’s revamped Siri upgrade, which seems to be a big reason behind the smart home hub’s setback. Apple spokesperson Jacqueline Roy previously confirmed that the updated Siri wouldn’t make it into the upcoming iOS 18.4 release, but Gurman has confirmed that there’s a little more to the story.

Apple announced this week that the “more personalized” version of Siri that it promised last year has been delayed — and according to Bloomberg’s Mark

Releasing a smart home hub that relies — even temporarily — on the existing Siri framework would just be a recipe for underwhelming early adopters. Far better to wait until Si

Apple is reportedly exploring multiple projects in this area. Last fall it was reported that there were two products on the way: J490, described as a “low-end smart display for using FaceTime and controlling home appliances,” and J595, an iPad-like display with a tabletop robotic limb that is expected to arrive much later.

Gurman has long maintained that Apple Intelligence and the more advanced Siri that it promises will be at the heart of Apple’s new home products ecosystem. With Siri’s improvements officially pushed off into the iOS 19 cycle, the home hub would be similarly delayed until its internal software smarts were ready for prime time.

Late last week, Apple delayed its big Siri AI upgrade, and it seems that will take the company’s rumored smart display with it. According to Bloomberg’ s Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter, Apple has postponed the device because it at least partially “relies on the delayed Siri capabilities.”

For a while now, there have been rumours that Apple is working on a smart home hub to enter the smart home market even further in 2025. The smart home hub device that would function as both a speaker and a display,

Gurman already revised that estimate in mid-February after reports that Apple was having serious trouble smartening up Siri into the more powerful context-aware voice assistant it promised at last year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).