WWDC 2017 to announce Apple’s Siri speaker?

Noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo made the prediction (via 9to5Mac), that Apple could announce its rival to the Amazon Echo at the iPhone-maker’s developer conference this June. They stated that the product will be a high-end speaker with built-in Siri. Apple will reportedly market the device as having superior sound quality and computing power to the Echo and Google Home, with the product set to sell for a similarly premium price-tag.

While Kuo predicts that the Siri speaker will go on sale before the end of the year, he’s not certain it will be announced at WWDC in June, suggesting there’s a better-than-50-percent chance of this happening. However, making the announcement at WWDC would make sense for Apple, especially if it wants to enlist developers to build applications for the device.

Last month, leaker Sonny Dickson also predicted the Siri speaker would be coming to WWDC. Dickson said on Twitter that the product would be marketed as a ‘Siri/AirPlay device’, and would be styled similar to the Mac Pro, with a mesh covering like that on UE’s Boom portable Bluetooth speaker.

Consumers have been waiting for Apple to enter this market since Amazon’s Echo became an unexpected success. Although the iPhone-maker has previously led the way with digital assistants, announcing Siri back in 2013, the company has since been leapfrogged by Amazon and Google. If the Siri speaker is announced, it would be a natural fit for other Apple products, including the company’s music streaming service, and its smart home platform, Apple HomeKit. Siri has already made the leap from mobile to desktop — finding a place in customers’ homes could be next.