Apple reportedly delays its planned smart display launch to fall

Mark Gurman at Bloomberg is back with the latest rumors about Apple’s future plans and how its ongoing struggles with artificial intelligence appear to be creating new delays for its next wave of product launches. Its sources say Apple is expected to delay the launch of its smart home display until later in 2026, likely September, when it often introduces new gadgets. Although the hardware has apparently been completed for months, the delay is attributed to the fact that the AI-centric overhaul of Siri is still not complete.

The device, known internally as the J490, is one of Apple’s many poorly kept secrets. Rumors of a display-paired HomePod smart speaker first emerged in 2022 and have resurfaced from time to time in the meantime, often with the promise that the device’s arrival was imminent. The latest claims predicted that the official announcement would take place this spring, perhaps as early as this month. However, it appears that Apple is once again hamstrung by an AI strategy that has left it scrambling to catch up with other industry leaders.

Apple has been working to integrate more AI features into Siri for over a year as part of its Apple Intelligence package. Gurman reports that Apple’s new timeline aims to complete the redesign for the launch of the iPhone 18 Pro, which is also expected in September. Apple could unveil this long-awaited Siri-as-chatbot during its WWDC keynote this summer, before it appears on any devices.