Apple home hub device built around Siri AI may be almost ready

A smart display from Apple that would compete with Amazon's Echo Show or Google's Nest Hub has been rumored since 2022, but may finally launch soon. Dubbed J490 inside Apple, the device is currently being widely tested in employees' homes ahead of a release, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported last night. The new device would reportedly either sit on a stand like a sliced-in-half HomePod Mini or attach to a wall. It will look like an Echo Show with a smaller display and offer pervasive Wi-Fi connectivity, an advanced display, a camera, microphones and an interface that looks "like a mashup of iOS, tvOS and watchOS," Gurman wrote. More controversially, it would feature facial recognition through the camera systems to identify who is looking at the screen and personalize the contents "including apps, notes, calendar appointments, news, music and podcasts," according to the report.