Last month, Apple revealed its plans for integrating Apple Intelligence into its flagship products. Its connected speaker is not one of them.
Are Apple’s connected speakers the fifth wheel of the car? What is certain is that their case was not mentioned once by the brand during the presentation of its Apple Intelligence AI. Today, journalist Mark Gurman confirms that these products will remain on the sidelines of artificial intelligence.
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No AI on (existing) HomePods
In his latest newsletter, the Bloomberg journalist says he doesn’t believe that Apple will deign to adapt Apple Intelligence to its existing smart speakers. This is partly due to the limited technical capabilities of these devices: to function, Apple Intelligence requires at least 8 GB of RAM. The second-generation HomePod and HomePod Mini only have one gigabyte of RAM.
Therefore, Apple would need to develop a specific version of Apple Intelligence, which would rely much more on cloud solutions, since the limited technical configuration of the HomePods does not allow the local execution of AI algorithms.
Also, Gurman writes it bluntly: the current HomePods represent “too small a volume [de ventes] to waste engineers’ time” to try to adapt Apple Intelligence to this type of product.
A new connected speaker powered by AI?
But it goes without saying that integrating Apple Intelligence into Apple’s smart speakers makes sense. After all, these products have placed Siri, Apple’s voice assistant, at the heart of their user experience. With Siri being one of the aspects of Apple’s systems that will see the biggest revolution once AI is launched, doing without it would be a missed opportunity.
So, no one is fooled, especially not Gurman. For the journalist, Apple will work on “an all-new robotic device with a display that includes Apple Intelligence at its core”. A sort of Google Nest Hub, with Apple flavor? It is too early to tell. But it is true that the Cupertino company has not yet attempted to invest in this market which, thanks to AI, could regain momentum.
On another topic, the mixed reality headset, Apple Vision Pro, will indeed receive Apple Intelligence in 2025. The time for engineers to ensure that the brand’s AI is displayed correctly in mixed reality environments. The headset will be launched in France on July 12.
