The HomeHub could be an extension of the HomePod, adding a large display to the design.
App Intents for Siri will make the upgraded digital assistant capable of handling considerably more tasks on a user’s behalf, and will be essential to the success of Apple’s future smart home hardware lineup.
The long-delayed overhaul of Siri will bring Apple’s assistive tool up to speed with rivals after years of lagging behind, when it eventually turns up. Part of the changes will be to allow Siri to have more direct control over other apps that exist on the iPhone and other Apple hardware.
In Sunday’s “Power On” newsletter for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman writes that App Intents will be an extremely powerful feature that the new Siri will use. It will allow for users to do a lot more with their voice than current Siri can perform.
This is a technology that has been on the cards for some time. Indeed, developers have already been able to work with the system, in advance of the feature’s introduction.
Examples include telling Siri to find specific photographs in a collection, edit it, and send it to someone. It could also be used to apply comments to an Instagram post, or to add items to an online shopping cart, all without touching the display.
Important beyond the iPhone
Gurman believes that this is a feature that should be more valuable to Apple than simply making the iPhone better. It should have a bearing on the success of other devices too.
Smart home hardware such as the Home Hub will provide another way to interact with Siri, and possibly in a more hands-free way than ever before.
Other companies, including Google and Amazon, have come up with their own smart home hub-style devices for a few years already. With the current version of Siri, as demonstrated by what is available in the HomePod, such releases from Apple would immediately fall behind the rival hardware in consumer eyes.
However, with a new and more capable Siri, Apple stands to include something potentially more capable and useful in the home than what its competitors can accomplish.
Apple has already allegedly pushed back the release of the devices until 2026, due to the Siri issues. Hopefully, with Apple’s redoubled efforts to build Siri back up, it won’t make more of a delay.
