Apple Is Working On Table-Top Robot With A Display Powered By Apple Intelligence

Apple announced the Apple Intelligence collection of AI-powered features at the WWDC event in June and while it’ll come to the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, HomePods will be left out in the cold.

Now, a new report claims that the first home device to support Apple Intelligence will be a new, unannounced table-top robot device.

That report comes via Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, writing in the weekly Power On newsletter. According to that report, Apple Intelligence will help power a new product category from Apple in the form of a table-top robot.

Gurman has been reporting the existence of a robot-type device for months now, but details about what it will actually be are unclear. He has reported that there will be a display that moves to mimic head movements such as during FaceTime calls.

Anyone looking to use the features on Apple’s home devices, meanwhile, is out of luck. They’ll have to wait until the company introduces its AI-powered table-top robot, something I’ve been reporting on for several months.

It’s thought that this device could ultimately be the successor to the HomePod, especially if there is no suggestion that Apple will update its smart speaker device to add the hardware required to support Apple Intelligence in the future. The addition of a display could change the way such a device could be used, potentially opening the door to support for streaming Apple TV+ and other content.

There’s no word on when this device will launch, however, and Apple has of course so far not confirmed the device is in the works.