Apple’s long -handed smart home hubs are allegedly facing another delay. The much awaited device conceived as a central controller for Homkit goods with deep Siri integration was expected to debut in 2025 initially in 2025. However, the latest insight from Mark Gurman of Bloomberg now suggests that the product is unlikely to come before 2026.

In his latest power on the newspaper, Gurman suggests that the delay in the launch of the home hub is largely due to the dependence of Apple on a new, more intelligent version of Siri. The upcoming hub is asked for a lot of dependence on the “Apple Intelligence” features and an enhanced app intent framwork, which will allow Siri to better understand the context, control more efficiently and respond more individual ways using on-device data.

Now these AI capabilities, which include a smarter Siri, was initially prescribed to roll out with iOS 18.4, but has since been delayed. Thus, the delay has further extended the launch of Apple’s smart hub.

Apple home hub rumor specification

Expectation for Apple Home Hub has been going on for a long time. The device, which has been in development under the internal codename J490, is often described as “homepods with screen”.

Reports suggest that the device may feature 6- to 7-inch display-which is of square square-sized-and can be powered by Apple’s A18 chip to enable advanced AI functions. The screen is also rumored to be mountable on a wall or attach to the speaker base, giving it flexibility in different home environment.

In addition to controlling smart home devices, Gurman suggested that the hub is expected to support facetime calls, display widgets and potentially added with a new Apple-designed smart home camera for safety facilities.

Long -time delay

Gurman first flagged off the delay in the beginning of this year, given that the launch was originally planned for March 2025. However, as is working on refining Apple AI-based Siri abilities, both software features and hub hardware have been postponed indefinitely. Now, with further confirmation that significant head upgrade is still in the pipeline, the possibility of 2026 launch is increasing rapidly.

In the previous report, Apple Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also predicted that a homepod Q3 with display would enter mass production by 2025. However, in the light of the current delay tied with software promptness, this timeline is now uncertain.

While failures and delays occur, there are signs that the project remains active within Apple. Earlier in March 2025, there were reports that the selected Apple employees were testing the smart hub under real -world conditions. Recently, references to a new display device were seen in iOS 18.6 developer beta, indicating the continuous progress behind the curtain. Code pointed to a screen resolution that matches an iPad mini, which strengthens speculation about the form factor.