Apple’s upcoming iPad robot loses features to make its launch deadline
Apple Intelligence is causing problems for more than just the iPhone.
A new product category is emerging before our eyes: AI-powered smart home robots. Apple has been trying for quite some time to be one of the first to market with an iPad robot, but it seems its ambitions will have to be kept in check.
Industry insider Mark Gurman was able to share some more details about the upcoming robot in his newsletter Power On. Unfortunately, it appears that Apple has been reconsidering some of the features that this iPad robot was going to have. This decision comes after the company’s in-development smart home hub saw delays due to problems with Apple Intelligence.
Apple Intelligence has been a nightmare for the company. Major features — especially a revamped and smarter Siri digital assistant — have been repeatedly delayed. The features that have made it to the iPhone 16 are often much worse than competing alternatives from other companies.
These problems have forced Apple to delay the smart home hub, which Gurman says could come out before the end of this year. This hub is supposed to rely heavily on AI to manage your smart home and interface with other Apple devices inside the house.
The iPad robot is supposedly a display that will function like a smart home hub but with a robot arm attached to it. Apple wants to give it a unique personality using AI, and it will be the start of the company’s ambitions for one day making humanoid robots. According to Gurman, this robot has become a major priority at the company, but still won’t see a release for another year or two.
Naturally, Apple’s largest rival Samsung decided to upstage the iPad robot before it even came out. Similar to dominating smartphone AI with Google’s Gemini, Samsung is about to release its own smart home robot called Ballie. Ballie also reminds me a lot more of certain adored robots from science fiction, and that’s a good thing in my opinion.
Apple is very likely going to be announcing a partnership with Google at this year’s WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) event. This collaboration will aim to bring Gemini to the iPhone, similar to Samsung’s approach for the Galaxy S25 series.
Apple may just have to do something similar for its iPad robot, and that’ll make the company’s product very similar to Samsung’s offering.
Industry insider Mark Gurman was able to share some more details about the upcoming robot in his newsletter Power On. Unfortunately, it appears that Apple has been reconsidering some of the features that this iPad robot was going to have. This decision comes after the company’s in-development smart home hub saw delays due to problems with Apple Intelligence.
These problems have forced Apple to delay the smart home hub, which Gurman says could come out before the end of this year. This hub is supposed to rely heavily on AI to manage your smart home and interface with other Apple devices inside the house.
All of the promised Apple Intelligence features. | Video credit — Apple
The iPad robot is supposedly a display that will function like a smart home hub but with a robot arm attached to it. Apple wants to give it a unique personality using AI, and it will be the start of the company’s ambitions for one day making humanoid robots. According to Gurman, this robot has become a major priority at the company, but still won’t see a release for another year or two.
Naturally, Apple’s largest rival Samsung decided to upstage the iPad robot before it even came out. Similar to dominating smartphone AI with Google’s Gemini, Samsung is about to release its own smart home robot called Ballie. Ballie also reminds me a lot more of certain adored robots from science fiction, and that’s a good thing in my opinion.
Apple is very likely going to be announcing a partnership with Google at this year’s WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) event. This collaboration will aim to bring Gemini to the iPhone, similar to Samsung’s approach for the Galaxy S25 series.
Apple may just have to do something similar for its iPad robot, and that’ll make the company’s product very similar to Samsung’s offering.
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