$Apple (AAPL.US)$'s cash cow, the iPhone, is no longer the revenue driver it used to be, forcing the company to look for the next big thing, Bloomberg columnist Mark Gurman said on Sunday.
Robots In The Works? Apple has "skunk-works teams" within its hardware engineering and AI organizations that are exploring robotics, said Gurman in the latest installment of his weekly "Power On" newsletter.
A nearer-term move into robotics would be a device Apple has been working on for several years: a table-top product that uses a robotic arm to move around a display," he said.
The arm, the columnist said, could mimic a human on the other side of a FaceTime call, "shifting the screen to recreate a nod or a shake of the head." This device, however, has yet to receive unified support from Apple's executive team, he said.
Gurman also flagged a recent project involving the consideration of a home robot. Some people involved in the project are looking to make a machine that can handle household chores, he said, adding that such advances, however, may be decades away.
But with robotics and AI advancing every year, there's still hope that something from the Apple lab could someday make it to consumers' living rooms," Gurman said.
Everything You Need To Know About Apple Stock
Smart Home Ambitions: Gurman said Apple has "grand ambitions" for its smart home segment. The company has explored automation of household functions and a revamped Apple TV set-top box with a built-in camera for FaceTime videoconferencing and gesture-based controls, he said, adding that the technology will work seamlessly with both the iPhone and Vision Pro.
One of the strategies is a lightweight smart display, which would be like a low-end iPad and could be moved from room to room and hooked into charging hubs stationed around the house, the columnist said.
Apple has started small-scale test production of the screens for this product, but hasn't made a decision on whether to move forward," he said.
So for now, Apple will probably make more incremental improvements to its current lineup: new device sizes, colors and configurations, alongside accessories that could squeeze more revenue from the iPhone," Gurman added.
Apple ended Friday's session up 0.45% at $169.58. It has lost about 12% year-over-year.