Could Apple be about to venture into a whole new product category – AI-powered robots with cameras? That's the theory being advanced by ever-enthusiastic Apple YouTuber Sam Kohl (@AppleTrack) – and more than a few others who have had the time to create renders of possible final products.
While we're not talking about a fully mobile robot, Kohl is suggesting that AI will be used to move the screen of a new speaker-meets-screen which can follow its subject around the room and even be used to gesture to the user.
Taken with the renders he is sharing in his videos, it's easy to picture a kind of iMac of the future, with a touchscreen on a pole. It's very, very easy to anticipate that Apple would not just have it track a subject like an Obsbot Tiny 2 webcam but also communicate – after all, the Pixar-crossover that was the iMac G4 is still a design icon.
Even if you don't consider it a robot, it is certainly true is that Apple's range of HomePod speakers needs a refresh – the processor chips in the existing systems aren't up to the new Apple Intelligence, so they're likely to be replaced.
Personally I'd consider it a big leap if, when I asked Siri to play Ariane X it didn't play Ariana Grande, which of course would be a benefit of improved AI for all the HomePods.
But a new device at a mich higher price could create a new category, and put Apple into conflict with the best conference cameras, some of which do get used in the home, or in creative studios – not just boardrooms.
It has long been anticipated that Apple will extend the range, though, with a device with a screen – much as the Alexa Echo speaker series is appended with the Echo Show touchscreens. These act as a brilliant partner to a doorbell camera which, of course, Amazon are well connected to owning Ring and Blink (not to mention selling a lot of other brands).
Apple, though, also has its HomeKit system and it's possible to build a security system with the best HomeKit cameras for elegant integration with Apple devices and iOS – I have a HomeKit doorbell and when someone stands by my door their face pops up on the corner of my TV because I'm usually watching via an Apple TV.
While the Vision Pro still seems like a step towards a goal a long way into the future – a device more suited to developers (or people really keen to experiment), there is room here for Apple to be intriguing at a price which is still not entirely out of reach for most.
Some are expecting to see it as early as late 2024 – to coincide with Apple Intelligence arriving – so keep watching those Apple events (although the next we're expecting is the iPhone 16 launch sometime in September, and the iPhone rarely shares the stage!)
