Almost like a person in a room, interrupting to suggest restaurants
Once defined by the elegance of a single device held in the hand, Apple now charts a course toward a world where its intelligence is woven into walls, ears, eyes, and kitchen counters. Between 2026 and 2027, the company plans to introduce foldable phones, AI-enabled AirPods with cameras, smart home hubs that recognize faces, augmented reality glasses, and a conversational tabletop robot — a breadth of ambition that signals not merely new products, but a redefinition of what a technology company can be. At the heart of this expansion lies a single organizing conviction: that artificial intelligence, embedded quietly into the fabric of daily life, is the next frontier Apple intends to claim.
- Apple is preparing its most expansive product cycle in history, with launches spanning nearly every category it touches — from foldable iPhones to a kitchen-counter robot — all anchored by AI.
- The pressure is acute: competitors like Meta and Google are already shipping smart glasses and AI assistants, making Apple's timeline feel both urgent and carefully calculated.
- This September alone, Apple plans to release a foldable iPhone Ultra, iPhone 18 Pro models, Apple Watch Series 12, refreshed Macs, and an upgraded entry-level iPad — a coordinated wave rather than a trickle.
- The company is attempting to transform its smart home ambitions from years of fitful effort into a coherent ecosystem, anchored by a facial-recognition hub that personalizes itself to each member of a household.
- AirPods with cameras and smart glasses expected by late 2027 signal Apple's intent to move intelligence from the pocket to the body itself, blurring the line between wearable and computational device.
- If the roadmap holds, Apple will have shifted its identity from a personal computing company into a provider of ambient intelligence — technology that sees, hears, and responds to the world around it.
Apple is preparing for one of the most consequential product cycles in its history. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the company's ambitions over the next eighteen months stretch far beyond the incremental upgrades that have defined recent years, encompassing foldable phones, AI-embedded earbuds, smart home hardware, augmented reality glasses, and a conversational robot.
The immediate wave arrives this September. Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max alongside a foldable device Gurman calls the iPhone Ultra — something entirely new for the company. The same event will likely bring the Apple Watch Series 12, a fourth Apple Watch Ultra, refreshed Mac models, and an entry-level iPad upgraded to support Apple Intelligence features.
The smart home category, long a fitful pursuit for Apple, is poised for real expansion. A seven-inch hub display is expected in 2026, designed to mount on a wall or speaker base and function as a household control center. Its distinguishing feature: facial recognition that identifies approaching family members and surfaces personalized information — calendars, reminders, music, news — for each individual. A new OLED iPad mini, a redesigned Apple TV, and an updated HomePod mini are also in advanced stages.
2027 carries symbolic weight as the iPhone's twentieth anniversary. Apple plans to mark the occasion with a second-generation iPhone Air in spring, followed by special anniversary Pro models and a second foldable iPhone later in the year. New AirPods will reportedly include cameras that feed visual data to Siri, creating a wearable that functions as much as a sensing device as an audio one.
Looking further out, Apple's first smart glasses are expected toward the end of 2027, with a tabletop robot — equipped with a robotic arm and conversational AI — planned for late 2027 or 2028. Conceived almost as a household presence, the robot is envisioned engaging in natural dialogue to help plan meals, trips, and daily tasks.
What the full roadmap reveals is a company reorganizing itself around artificial intelligence as a foundational principle. Nearly every device on the horizon incorporates AI in some form, and the sheer breadth of the initiative — phones, watches, tablets, audio, smart home, glasses, robotics — suggests Apple views the next two years as a pivotal moment in which it moves from personal computing into the ambient intelligence space, where technology becomes quietly woven into the physical world itself.
Apple is preparing for one of the most consequential product cycles in its history, with plans to introduce devices across nearly every category it touches—from foldable phones to artificial intelligence glasses to a robot that could sit on your kitchen counter. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who has tracked Apple's development pipeline closely, the company's ambitions over the next eighteen months stretch far beyond the incremental upgrades that have defined recent years.
The immediate timeline begins this September. Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max alongside something entirely new: a foldable iPhone that Gurman refers to as the iPhone Ultra. The same event will likely introduce the Apple Watch Series 12 and a fourth iteration of the Apple Watch Ultra. Beyond phones and watches, Apple plans to refresh multiple Mac models and release an entry-level iPad with upgraded processing power to support its Apple Intelligence features. These are not minor tweaks. They represent a coordinated push across the company's core product lines, all arriving within weeks of each other.
The smart home category, which Apple has pursued fitfully for years, appears poised for a significant expansion. A long-rumored smart home hub with a seven-inch display is expected to arrive in 2026, functioning as a central control point for connected devices throughout the house. The device is designed to resemble a square iPad mounted on a speaker base or attached to a wall. What distinguishes it from competitors is a feature built into its interface: facial recognition that identifies people as they approach and displays personalized information—calendar events, reminders, music preferences, news feeds tailored to each household member. Apple is also developing a new iPad mini with an OLED screen, while a redesigned Apple TV and an updated HomePod mini with Apple Intelligence support are in advanced testing stages and could arrive this year, though without major visual changes.
Next year carries symbolic weight. The iPhone reaches its twentieth anniversary in 2027, and Apple has structured its product calendar to make that moment significant. The company plans to launch a second-generation iPhone Air in spring, addressing criticisms of the first model by adding improved battery life and a second rear camera. Later in the year, Apple intends to release special anniversary editions—potentially called the iPhone 20 Pro and iPhone 20 Pro Max—alongside a second-generation foldable iPhone. New AirPods are also planned, and these are not simple audio devices. They will reportedly include cameras that feed visual information to Siri, Apple's AI assistant, creating a new category of wearable that blurs the line between headphones and computational devices.
Apple's ambitions extend into territory the company has never occupied before. Smart glasses have been rumored for years, with various launch windows proposed and missed. Gurman now indicates that Apple's first smart glasses will likely debut toward the end of 2027, suggesting the company has chosen to prioritize refinement over speed to market. Even further out, Apple is developing a tabletop robot intended for late 2027 or 2028. This device represents perhaps the most speculative entry on the roadmap. It is conceived as an advanced version of the smart home display, equipped with a robotic arm and conversational AI capabilities. The vision is for it to function almost like a household member—interrupting conversations to suggest restaurants based on dinner plans, engaging in back-and-forth dialogue to help plan trips or accomplish tasks, operating with the kind of natural language fluency that OpenAI has demonstrated with its voice mode.
What emerges from this roadmap is a company betting heavily on artificial intelligence as the organizing principle for its next generation of products. Nearly every device on the horizon incorporates some form of AI capability, whether through Siri enhancements, visual processing in AirPods, or conversational abilities in a robot. The breadth of the initiative—spanning phones, watches, tablets, computers, audio devices, smart home hardware, and entirely new product categories—suggests Apple views the next two years as a pivotal moment. If these plans materialize as reported, the company will have fundamentally expanded the scope of what it considers its core business, moving beyond personal computing devices into the ambient intelligence space where technology becomes woven into the physical environment itself.
Notable Quotes
The device is being designed to behave almost like a person in a room, capable of interrupting conversations about dinner plans to suggest nearby restaurants or recipes.— Mark Gurman, Bloomberg
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does Apple need a foldable phone when the market hasn't exactly demanded one?
Because the market doesn't know what it wants until someone shows it. Apple's been watching Samsung and others prove the category works. Now they're entering with their own engineering, their own materials, their own integration with iOS. It's not about responding to demand—it's about defining the next form factor.
The smart home hub with facial recognition sounds invasive. How does Apple sell that?
They're banking on the fact that it's in your home, under your control, not connected to external servers in the way people fear. It's personalization, not surveillance. But you're right to notice the tension. That's the conversation Apple will have to have.
A robot on your kitchen counter—isn't that science fiction?
It is, but Apple's describing something more grounded than it sounds. It's a display with a moving arm. It can gesture, it can orient itself toward you. The conversational AI is the real innovation. If it actually works the way they're imagining, it changes how people interact with their homes.
Why announce all of this now, two years out?
They're not announcing it. A reporter with deep sources is telling us what's coming. Apple stays quiet. But leaks like this shape expectations, build anticipation, and let competitors know Apple's serious about these categories.
Which of these products actually matters?
The foldable iPhone and the AI glasses. Those are the ones that could define the next decade. Everything else is refinement. But the robot—if it works—that could be the dark horse.