Apple's rumored AI pendant will take even longer to arrive, with the now "postponed" project a likely result of Apple Watch taking on an AI wearable's functionality.
The launch of Siri AI was meant to usher in a wave of AI-centric hardware, such as the often rumored Home Hub. However, for at least one product, there's now an even longer wait for its arrival.
As part of a story on fitness tracker development, Bloomberg reports on Tuesday that Apple's work on an AI pendant has been postponed. The article doesn't explain or allude to why it is on hold, other than it is now being delayed for unnamed reasons.
In previous rumors going back to January, the device was described as a pendant or wearable pin. The idea was that it would have a camera that could capture the user's view of the environment.
This data would be fed back to Siri AI, and would inform it of the world. That would in theory mean users would be able to ask questions about things near them, without needing to shoot a photo on an iPhone as Visual Intelligence currently requires.
While the idea of a pendant or AI-driven pin is an attractive one, especially to those who watched Captain Jean-Luc Picard with envy, it isn't the only thing on Apple's roster that can further its AI aims.
For a start, there are considerable rumors of AirPods with built-in cameras, which would effectively do the same thing. That's a product that has seemingly been leaked by Apple itself in macOS Tahoe, and is expected to ship in 2027.
Then there's the Apple Watch Series 12. While it does not have any visual capabilities, the wearable does have a Siri Recap feature for summarizing conversations.
This is a feature that listens to your activities throughout the day, with Audio Intelligence recognizing sounds and creating a summary of your day.
With the Apple Watch now doing this work, and with the prospect of those camera-equipped AirPods on the horizon, Apple can afford to step back on the pendant a bit.
If its other releases can prove there's a market for it, the pendant's development could easily restart.
