Kuo: Rumored Apple smart home display delayed due to iOS 19 design shift

Apple's rumored smart home display and hub likely won't show its face for a little bit longer. 

According to market analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple has delayed its rumored smart home display until the latter half of 2025. Dubbed the "HomePad" by some writers (namely 9to5Mac's Ryan Christoffel), the smart home hub has been delayed until the third quarter of 2025 to ensure that it launches in line with Apple's upcoming design language shift in iOS 19, which is expected to launch this fall.

In a post on X, Kuo stated that he "predicted that mass production of the new display-equipped HomePod would slip from 1Q25 to 3Q25 (after WWDC) due to software development issues." In addition to continued issues with Apple Intelligence, Kuo cited issues with "ensuring the HomePod's interface aligns with new OS updated (like iOS 19).

It's expected that iOS 19 will usher in a new era for Apple's OS design. This reasoning seems a bit farfetched, although Apple may be delaying the smart home hub to avoid confusion inherent to a UI/UX shift so soon after a product launch.

The most likely reason is Apple Intelligence and Apple's continued struggles to adequately integrate the features it promised. This is in line with a recent post from Mark Gurman, who also claims the smart home hub has been delayed due to issues with Apple Intelligence.

User sentiment around Apple Intelligence, in general, is that it is not quite baked and needs some fine-tuning. Considering a smart home hub would lean heavily on AI features, Apple may be trying to squash as many Apple Intelligence bugs as it can prior to launching a device that rotates almost entirely around the feature.