Apple might ship iPad-like smart home hub in late 2025

(Credit: Apple)

• 📱 Apple might wait until late 2025 to ship its iPad-like smart home hub

• 📅 That’s a departure from the previous rumors that suggested early 2025

• 🔊 The device will feature a 6-7 inch display that attaches to a speaker base

• 🤖 It’ll be powered by the A18 processor and be reasonably affordable

Apple is expected to release its first smart home hub in 2025, and we’re now learning that it could be later in the year than we thought.

According to famed Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the iPad-like device won’t make it to market until later next year. That’s a departure from the March 2025 timeframe we’ve been tracking, which could mean Apple needs more time to get things ready considering it’s the first smart home display it’s ever shipped.

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The device will certainly be an interesting one for Apple. Mark Gurman at Bloomberg shared recently that the smart home hub will be powered by an A18 processor, the same chip found in the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. It’ll support Apple Intelligence features as well as Siri voice commands, and the display portion will be able to run apps like FaceTime, Calendar, and Notes. It’s encroaching on iPad territory without actually being an iPad.

The display itself will be shaped similarly to a square, almost like two iPhones sitting next to each other. When attached to the speaker base, it’ll resemble an iMac G4 to some extent. In addition, Gurman has previously reported that the hub will be priced competitively in order to draw more customers in, but it’s unclear what its final price could be.

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Kuo expects Apple to ship somewhere around 500,000 to a million smart home hubs next year, so whatever that price winds up being, it ought to be thought of carefully to get this many people to buy a first-generation product like this.

We don’t know what this mysterious device will be called, although it’s likely it’ll fall in the HomePod family since it’s designed to control your smart home. We’ll know more about it as we approach 2025 and get through the initial wave of product announcements like the Galaxy S25, OnePlus 13, and the M4 MacBook Air.

Max Buondonno is a writer at The Shortcut. He’s been reporting on the latest consumer technology since 2015, with his work featured on CNN Underscored, ZDNET, How-To Geek, XDA, TheStreet, and more. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop.