The voice-activated assistant market continues to heat up, with Amazon Echo and Google Home leading the charge, despite the fact neither device has officially made its way to Canada yet.
However, new rumours indicate that Apple could be preparing to unveil its own Siri Speaker at WWDC this June. Reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo made this prediction via 9to5Mac, stating that the still unannounced device will be a high-end speaker that features built-in Siri functionality.
The superior audio quality aspect of the device, which would give it a clear advantage over its competitors, is expected to be its main selling point. Kuo says that the device will go on sale before the end of the year, though it’s possible it may not be announced at WWDC, with Kuo stating that there’s a 50 percent chance this could occur. Given WWDC is a developer focused conference, it would make sense for the tech giant to reveal a new product category at the event, giving developers adequate time to begin experimenting with the product before its official commercial release.
This isn’t the first time rumours Apple is working on a dedicated voice-activated assistant have appeared, especially since Apple opened Siri integration up to third-party developers last year. It’s also worth noting that the Cupertino, California-based company recently made Siri available to macOS users, in addition to iOS users.
If a dedicated Siri device does get announced at WWDC, it will be interesting to see if Apple opts for a simultaneous U.S. and Canada launch like it has with most of its products for the past few years. It’s also unclear if Apple plans to use this still unannounced device as the centre of its Home IoT device platform, similar to the strategy Amazon has taken with its Echo voice-activated assistant.
Source: 9to5Mac
