Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Apple’s much-anticipated smart home hub, known informally as the ‘HomePad,’ has been pushed back to 2026, signaling a major blow to the tech company’s aspirations for the smart home. The delay is the result of difficulties in the development of a significant Siri update, which Apple has made a priority in order to improve the functionality of its virtual assistant.
With Siri integration providing simple control over a variety of devices, the intelligent home hub is intended to be the focal point of Apple’s smart home ecosystem. The delay underscores persistent difficulties in Siri’s development and raises concerns about Apple’s capacity to compete in the rapidly expanding smart home automation devices.
The original plan was to roll out the Siri upgrade in conjunction with the iOS 18.4 release, which took place last week. The update was, however, postponed as a result of internal talks regarding Siri’s development, which has had a domino effect on the schedule for the smart home hub.
Earlier reports indicated that the hub could launch in late 2025, after its introduction at WWDC25, which would run on iOS 19. But these timelines now seem improbable. The hub’s development and release schedule have been directly affected by the delay in Siri’s update.
It is intended that the smart home hub serves as the main control hub for the Apple HomeKit ecosystem. Important features include the following:
Apple has been testing prototypes of the hub in its corporate headquarters and in the homes of its staff, demonstrating that development is continuing despite the delay. According to reports, Apple is also developing a more sophisticated model of this device that includes a robotic arm that supports a display. This futuristic center is anticipated to integrate features such as videoconferencing, home security surveillance, and complete smart home management simplifying modern tasks.
