As Apple prepares for the John Ternus era to officially begin this September, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has published a product roadmap — shared in a new interview on the TBPN podcast — that reveals how the company plans to move beyond the iPhone. Six major categories are currently being fast-tracked inside Apple's secret projects labs, all built around a single strategic theme: Ambient AI, technology that lives around you rather than only in your pocket.
1. AI AirPods with Cameras | Siri That Can See What You See
Apple is testing AirPods equipped with low-resolution infrared cameras. The cameras would give an on-device AI a visual feed, enabling real-time identification of objects, plants, or landmarks through a natural voice query. Target launch: late 2026 or 2027.
2. Apple Smart Glasses | The True AR Product That Replaces the iPhone Long-Term
Rather than a follow-up to the bulky Vision Pro, Apple's glasses project targets all-day wearability. Stylish frames would overlay walking directions, messages, and live translation directly onto the lenses. Gurman describes this as Apple's "endgame" product, built to eventually replace the iPhone for most daily interactions. Expected: 2027+.
3. The Wearable Pendant | A Screenless Health and AI Hub for Non-Watch Wearers
Mirroring the Humane AI Pin concept but with Apple's manufacturing quality, this clip-on pendant would operate entirely through voice and gesture. It targets users who want continuous health monitoring and AI access without wearing an Apple Watch — a new category, not a replacement for one.
4. Apple HomePad Smart Display | The Echo Show Challenger with Siri 2.0
Apple is finally entering the smart home display market with a low-cost, iPad-like screen designed for kitchen counters and wall mounts. It would serve as a HomeKit command center, controlled through hand gestures and a significantly upgraded Siri. This is the lowest-risk product in the roadmap and the one Gurman expects to ship earliest — potentially as soon as late 2026.
5. Apple Tabletop Robot (Project J595) | A $1,000 Screen That Follows You Around the Room
The most ambitious project on Gurman's list is a robotic arm attached to a large display. The screen rotates 360 degrees and tilts autonomously to track you during a FaceTime call or while you follow a recipe. Rumored price point: $1,000. It positions Apple in a direct collision course with Amazon's Astro and the emerging "home robot" category.
6. Apple Security Camera | Privacy-First Home Surveillance via Local Processing
Apple is entering the smart home camera market dominated by Ring and Nest with a decisive differentiator: all video is processed locally on an Apple Home Hub (Apple TV), never uploaded to a cloud server. In a post-data-breach world, that privacy story is a legitimate competitive edge and consistent with Apple's broader positioning against Google and Amazon.
Apple Ecosystem 2.0 | How the 6 Products Work as a Distributed System
Gurman's most important observation is that these are not six standalone products. They are designed as an interconnected Ambient AI layer: your glasses see a problem, your AirPods tell you the solution, and your tabletop robot shows you the details when you walk into the kitchen. The iPhone becomes the hub rather than the device.
| Product | Complexity | Risk | Est. Launch |
|---|---|
HomePad Smart Display | Low complexity | Low risk | Early–Late 2026 |
AI AirPods with Cameras | Medium complexity | Medium risk | Late 2026 |
Wearable Pendant | Medium complexity | Medium risk | 2027 |
Tabletop Robot (J595) | High complexity | High risk | 2027 |
Smart Glasses (AR) | Extreme complexity | Extreme risk | 2027+ |
Apple Security Camera | Low complexity | Low risk | 2026–2027 |
For years Apple has been criticized for over-indexing on incremental iPhone upgrades. This roadmap shows a company placing six concurrent bets on Agentic AI and consumer robotics — not because it wants to, but because the alternative is ceding the next computing platform to Meta, Google, and a rapidly expanding field of hardware startups. The John Ternus era starts with a very full pipeline.