Speculations Say Apple Will Announce Siri Standalone Speaker At WWDC On Monday

Apple fans are waiting if the Cupertino-based tech giant will announce on Monday the standalone Siri speaker. Ahead of the June 5 start of Apple’s WorldWide Developer Conference, rumors continue to swirl that the iPhone maker will unveil the rival of Amazon Echo and Google Home.

Besides the standalone Siri speaker, Apple is also expected to debut a revamped MacBook lineup and a new iPad Pro. Making the rumor about the Siri speaker seem credible is a new report that the speaker has entered production. It took Apple years to develop the standalone speaker, GSM Arena reported.

CNET notes that the last time Apple rolled out a smart speaker, the HomeKit, was at WWDC 2014. It took the tech giant three years to develop a voice-controlled speaker not linked to the iOS, Apple’s mobile software. Because devices like the Google Home and Amazon Echo help unify connected devices, a standalone Siri speaker will help bring the functionality to the center of the home that HomeKit failed to do.

The standalone Siri speaker would improve the competitiveness of Apple in the smart home space. Although the HomeKit could do a lot of things, the lack of a standalone speaker limits Apple’s input to mobile gadgets. In contrast, Amazon’s Alexa can set a 15-minute kitchen timer to remind a person of tasks that need to be done. In turn, Google Home can follow a recipe or turn on a video streamed show.

The manufacturer of the wireless AirPods, Inventec, based in Taiwan, will be the maker of the standalone Siri speaker. The upcoming device will not have a screen. Ironically, Phil Schiller, the senior vice president of marketing for Apple, admitted he is not a fan of the competitors’ products because the Amazon Echo and Google Home lack screens. After a few days, Amazon rolled out the Echo Show which was a speaker with a screen.