Apple may have an Echo competitor in the works that could be announced at WWDC next month.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo weighed in with details on Apple’s first home artificial intelligence product in a note to investors on Monday. In the note, Kuo stated that he believes there is more than a 50 percent chance that Apple will announce the product at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, before launching it in the second half of the year.
Kuo also stated that the device would feature a woofer and seven tweeters in order to provide rich sound. He also stated that the unit will be powered by a custom ARM processor equal in power to at least the A8 CPU on the iPhone 6 or newer.
In the note, Kuo stated that the product will be positioned towards the high-end market.
Kuo also stated that Apple could ship as many as 12 million units over the device’s first year on the market.
In particular, he sees Apple’s custom W1 Bluetooth chip playing a key role in the product, particularly as new hardware is introduced. The W1 chip allows wireless accessories to automatically connect as long as they are logged into the same iCloud account.
Kuo cited that Apple’s product would have a distinct number of advantages over the Alexa platform, in that it could build on Siri’s current support for 18 languages as compared to Alexa’s current support for English along. He also believes iOS and macOS integration, with large established install bases, will play to Apple’s strengths.
The device could also tap into Apple’s establish AirPlay protocol for streaming music over Wi-Fi.
Apple’s WWDC event is slated to begin on June 5th in San Francisco, wherein the company is expected to unveil iOS 11, macOS 10.13, watchOS 4, and tvOS 11.
Last week, reports began to emerge that Apple was “finalizing” the design of its Amazon Echo rival, which will be based on its Siri voice-driven personal assistant. It’s also rumored that the speaker design will be based on Beats technology.
It was also suggested that the device could look similar to the Mac Pro, with a cylindrical design and concave top. The device is said to be known by the codename “B238.”
As always, stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via AppleInsider