Apple was clearly caught off guard when AI took over the technology world a few years ago. Following a series of unfulfilled promises made during the WWDC 2024 keynote, the company reportedly wants to flip the script and start releasing mobile robots, smart displays, home security cameras, and more — many of which will be powered by Apple’s homegrown large language models.
While the industry will undoubtedly continue marching forward in the meantime, including in the form of the OpenAI hardware made in partnership with former Apple design chief Jony Ive, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman teases an enticing roadmap for Apple’s AI initiatives.
According to the journalist, Apple will release the first iteration of the new Siri early next year, even without its conversational capabilities. Still, the company is confident that it will be able to perform basic home control commands, such as playing songs, taking notes, web browsing, and videoconferencing. Eventually, Apple will bring a conversational Siri to its unannounced tabletop robot, unlocking the true potential of the so-called “virtual companion” that the company plans to imbue with its own quirky personality.
2027 could be the year of Apple’s AI robots
With a similar 7-inch display to the smart home hub that keeps popping up in leaks, the tabletop robot has been referred to by some as the “Pixar Lamp,” as it will move its display around autonomously with a dynamic arm, following the user while they cook, make a FaceTime call, and more. The report compares the device’s personality to Clippy, the animated mascot of Microsoft Office for so many years. The idea is for the moving, talking robot to be something of a mechanical friend rather than just a living room fixture.
Interestingly enough, Apple also wants its conversational Siri to be capable of being a part of other people’s conversations to share information, suggest adding an appointment to a calendar, and so on. It’s the kind of advancement Siri needs to become a real competitor to ChatGPT and Google Gemini.
What’s most interesting about this leak is how confident Apple seems to be in its robot roadmap, as the company is already debating if an animated Finder icon or a Memoji should represent the face of the new Siri. And that appears to be just the tip of the iceberg, as Apple is also developing a robot with wheels, a robot arm for manufacturing, and a stripped-down version of the “Pixar Lamp” robot without the arm.
