Jordan O'BrienApple could soon launch an Amazon Echo competitor of its own, with Bloomberg suggesting that the Siri-powered smart speaker has officially entered production.
There’s no surprise to the timing of this report, with Apple expected to unveil its smart speaker on June 5 at its WWDC developer conference. It will be the latest in the long line of Amazon Echo competitors, which includes everything from the Google Home to the LingLong DingDong.
Apple’s weapon in the fight against Amazon and Google will be Siri , which is one of the oldest of the new breed of voice assistants. Siri has been present on the iPhone and iPad since 2011, while it has since expanded to Mac OS and the Apple TV. Despite its expansion, Apple has struggled to keep up with the intelligence offered by the Google Assistant or Alexa, and its smart home ecosystem is tied to HomeKit – meaning it’s less open than its main competitors.
Siri won’t be the only benefit for customers wishing to nab an Apple-made smart speaker. In fact, Apple is hoping to lean on users who happen to be completely tied into the company’s ecosystem. That means those who have an iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and MacBook Pro – may feel most at home with the Siri-enabled speaker, than one from Amazon or Google.
Apple is also expected to include virtual surround technology in its speaker, which should help the company compete in terms of sound quality. In fact, sound quality is expected to be an important aspect of Apple’s smart speaker, with it said to be louder and crisper than its competitors, according to people in the know. Apple did consider placing sensors on the device to measure the room’s acoustics and automatically adjust audio levels, similar to Sonos, but it’s not known whether it will be in the final product. What is likely to be the case, however, is that this will be the first smart speaker to support Apple Music, which has thus far failed to support many third-party speakers or devices, other than Sonos.
While the Apple speaker’s main goal will be to act as a smart home hub, and tie users Apple and HomeKit devices together, the product is likely to be used as a way to tie customers into the company’s diverse ecosystem. It’s part of Apple’s latest approach to stop users fleeing to Android, with those acquiring a Siri-enabled speaker likely to find it harder to leave Apple’s aura.
WWDC is set to commence on June 5, with the device likely to be announced during the event. Despite the June announcement and the reported start to production, the Siri-enabled speaker is not expected to ship until later this year.