Rumour has is that Apple will launch a Siri speaker to rival Google and Apple. Read the latest on the Siri Speaker UK launch date, price specs and features.
Will Apple launch a rival to Amazon Echo and Google Home? It certainly seems so, and the rumours are starting to appear thick and fast after a couple years of speculation that Apple would launch a similar gadget. Find out what to expect at WWDC 2017.
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Sonny Dickson, an Australian blogger who has been right on a few previous Apple rumours, recently tweeted:
And even more recently, well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted the device would include a touch panel of some description.
Expected launch date: 5 June 2017
Amazon has already stolen a march on the smart home assistant with the Echo and Echo Dot, and Google has answered Amazon with its own Google Home .
Apple’s September 2016 event came and went without so much as a mention of an ‘home speaker’ gadget. Many dismissed the rumours of such a product because Siri is already at your command in your pocket on your iPhone, and also now in your ear with the new wireless earphones, the AirPods, reviewed.
But with the new rumours, including one that Apple will announce the gadget at its WWDC in June, it could be just about ready to launch later in the year. And now, KGI Securities’ Ming Chi Kuo has released a new report saying there is “more than a 50 precent chance” a Siri peaker will launch at WWDC alongside a new 10.5in iPad Pro.
At least one report last year claimed Apple’s Siri speaker was been in development since before the Echo was launched. The theory about the late launch was that Apple was waiting until developers had added Siri support to their apps before launching such a device.
Siri can only be used for certain types of apps, but it should mean that you’ re far more likely to want to use the assistant when it can control your favourite apps. And if a dedicated Siri speaker were sitting on your mantelpiece which could relay messages and let you turn off the radiators in the bedrooms upstairs, well, that’ d be pretty handy.
And Apple already has a home hub of sorts: the Apple TV. What it lacks is a microphone and speaker, although the fourth-generation ATV does come with the Siri remote (above) which does have a microphone, and it’s easy to hook up a speaker to the box.
An ‘Apple Home’ speaker would be a neater, all-in-one solution.
Assuming it has been designed to do the same job as Amazon and Google’s devices, then it will be a smallish standalone (mains-powered) speaker that has far-field microphones which constantly wait to hear a phrase such as “Hey Siri” so you can ask a question or make a command at any time from anywhere in the room.
It should be able to do everything Siri can do now, including answering requests for information, directions, playing music, setting timers, adjusting the temperature and turning on and off appliances and lights.
A patent granted on 16 May 2017 appears to relate to the gadget, as it’s for an “Electronic device with radially deployed components”. However, it could also be for a new Mac Pro.
In any case, the diagram below shows “a cross-sectional side view of an electronic device showing how an array of components may be mounted to the exterior of a device housing in accordance with an embodiment.”
According to Dickson’s tweets, there could be a tie-in with Beats and could be styled like the Mac Pro. He also says it will have “same style UE Boom mesh” which means it could have fabric to soften its appearance in the home.
It’s also supposedly being marketed as an AirPlay device. This makes sense as AirPlay speakers exist already and this device would surely include that functionality.
Another tweet says ” Concave top with the controls, fat with the speaker mesh portion covering it all.”
Ming Chi Kuo reckons the device will have a touch ‘panel’, possibly like the Amazon Echo Show, or simply a capacitive area that might be used for interactions.
Others say it will include the W1 Bluetooth chip (found in Apple’s AirPods) , a custom ARM processor, one woofer and seven tweeters.
Until Apple officially unveils the device, it’s impossible to know which of these details are correct.
Again, information on this subject is from Ming Chi Kuo, who thinks the device will boast “premium audio” and that it will cost more than an Amazon Echo and Google Home.
The Apple TV costs £139 for the 32GB and £179 for the 64GB. Although it’s a slightly odd comparison, we’d imagine Apple would price a new gadget slightly higher than these. But would you pay £199 for a Siri speaker?
Apple products can already do much of what the Echo and Google Home can do, and Siri is already pretty much as capable as Alexa and the Google Assistant.
The firm launched HomeKit with iOS 8 in 2014, but although the software sounded exciting – you could use Siri to turn on your heating or shut the blinds – physical products which supported HomeKit have only recently become available, in the UK at least.
This goes some way to explaining why there’s a Home app in iOS 10. In iOS 8 or 9, you had to download an app specific to the hardware you’ ve got, such as the Elgato Eve Thermo radiator valve. Sure, you could use Siri to control the gadgets, but there was no central place where you could see all your HomeKit gadgets in one place.
The Home app addresses this and also allows you to create what Apple calls Scenes. With Scenes you can make several things happen with one command. Tell Siri, for example, “I’m home” and your HomeKit-compatible lights and heating can turn on, and your indoor security cameras can be disabled.
