Apple’s next big thing is said to be an iPad on a robotic arm

Apple has not had a great track record when it comes to smart home gadgets or Smart cars. Cupertino, California-based tech giant The idea of ​​home robots is said to be in the works now. We’ve finally gotten our first hint from a reliable rumormonger about Apple’s next big project. It appears to be a large-screen iPad attached to a robotic arm on a tabletop. Think more Homepod than Samsung Ballie, but with a screen that can swivel and rotate — all powered by AI..

We heard hints of this shift to smart home robots earlier this year, but a new report from Bloomberg Mark Gurman claims Apple has put hundreds of employees on an iPad plus robot arm. Gurman cites anonymous sources familiar with Apple’s latest effort who say the arm will be a “command center” for the smart home that will be a Homepod, a video conferencing window, and a security tool rolled into one. Imagine if you put an Amazon Echo Show Or a Pixel tablet With its smart home hub base on a slim mechanical arm with built-in motors to move it.

Apple reportedly first approved the idea in 2022. However, the project has ballooned in recent months following the demise of the long-awaited electric car from the Apple brand — as Bloomberg first reported in February. This also coincides with Apple’s big move into artificial intelligence, which it has called Apple’s intelligenceThe device will likely use artificial intelligence to some extent and will likely use Siri AI To listen to users’ instructions.

According to a Bloomberg report, CEO Tim Cook has backed the initiative. He sits alongside hardware engineering chief John Ternus and VP of technology Kevin Lynch. Lynch also led Apple’s smart car project. The VP of hardware engineering responsible for Homepod, Matt Costello, is also said to be overseeing the hardware side.

Smart home technology hasn’t been a moneymaker for many big tech companies. Last month, Wall Street Journal Amazon is reportedly burning billions of dollars on its Echo lineup. The company has been trying to pursue a strategy that leads to a huge loss by offering cheap devices to put Alexa in millions of homes. Amazon is trying to enhance Alexa with artificial intelligence, including Apple, GoogleSamsung, and almost every major tech brand. Amazon wants users to Buy a subscription To access AI Alexa.

The current version in testing is said to still be using a modified version of iPadOS, a software suite known to lag behind MacOS In terms of versatility, the software might work best on a tabletop-mounted arm, but Apple would still need to tweak it significantly to create something fast enough to use on the go.

It’s still early days, and Bloomberg claims we’ll see this drop to around $1,000 sometime in 2026 or 2027. However, from the startThe idea of ​​a robotic arm with a screen conjures up images of… Jetson– Like the technology of the future in the fifties This seems much less useful in today’s age of pocketable smartphones.