Apple could launch homeOS next year

Apple could launch homeOS, a new operating system, and a group of smart home devices starting next year to capture a wide market share.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has brought this information in its latest weekly Power On newsletter, saying that the company is exploring more opportunities in the smart home and IoT devices market.

Gurman said that one of the major implementations for such software will come with a new smart home robot, which the company has been developing for quite some time.

This bot has a large display and robotic arms to conduct home-based tasks. The other rumored device is a low-end smart display, which could be used for FaceTime and managing home appliances.

The newsletter says these devices could launch early next year and the price could start at around $1,000 for the lower-end device.

Apple will introduce its suite of Apple Intelligence in these two devices to interact with the user. This implementation will be similar to macOS, iOS and iPadOS. However, we can expect some new intelligent staff there to perform tasks at home.

The current home device lineup includes Apple TV, HomePod, and HomePod mini. These devices don’t have the hardware required to run AI features onboard.

The new devices will run homeOS out of the box and this will be based on tvOS. Gurman mentioned that tvOS could be merged into homeOS and all of Apple’s smart devices will run solely this new OS.

Earlier this year, Macrumors discovered homeOS in tvOS 17.4 software code, suggesting that the company has been working on this new operating system for quite some time.

To bring these new homeOS devices, the company has been working with hardware partners from the industry.

The low-end smart display is designed to run apps including Calendar, Notes, and Home. However, several apps are built to control home appliances and see quick information about the device.