Apple’s long-rumored smart display will reportedly cost $350


Apple has been expected to widen its smart home offering for a long time now, and if a new report is accurate, we could be getting a trio of new devices fairly soon. According to , Apple is working on an indoor camera and a smart display to arrive in 2026, as well as a tabletop robot, with the latter expected to launch in 2027.

An Apple-made smart display in particular has heavily in the for a number of , but it appears to be closer than ever. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Apple’s new home hub will have a 7-inch square LCD display, a built-in FaceTime camera and an OS that dynamically adjusts depending on who’s using it. It will also ship with an improved version of Siri that will behave more like ChatGPT or other chatbots in how it uses the web to answer your questions. The product, along with the more advanced Siri chatbot, had been slated for release earlier this year, but Apple reportedly scrapped those plans in favor of a spring 2026 launch.

Bloomberg claims there will be two versions of the home hub, one code-named J940 which takes the form of a display mounted on a HomePod mini-like speaker, and the other (J491) designed to be hung on a wall. With both you’ll be able to control smart appliances, play music and presumably interact with Apple’s various apps on other devices. Apple is said to be targeting a price of around $350, although the Bloomberg report does not specify which version of the device that price refers to.

The tabletop robot scheduled to launch in 2027 will effectively be the smart display Apple could be releasing next year mounted into a motorized arm that can move the device to different positions, which sounds like the company’s take on Amazon’s (slightly creepy) swivelling, first launched in 2021. This product will have a larger 9-inch display, but is said to be delayed after Apple encountered engineering challenges with the motor.

Bloomberg reports that all three of these devices will be built in Vietnam, which sources said represented a “major change” in how Apple launches a new product category, as it has traditionally relied on China at the outset. In 2020 it that Apple was looking to diversify its production by moving some of its iPad and MacBook manufacturing to Vietnam, and the US’ trade war with China has only during Trump’s second administration. Vietnam has tariffs of its own, but they’re less severe than imports from China.



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Cybersecurity firm Cleafy just issued a report warning against a rising malware called Klopatra, which infects personal devices by posing as a free VPN app called Mobdro Pro IP + VPN. This is the latest corroboration of a series of warnings delivered by Kaspersky security researchers in 2024 about the increasing number of malware apps pretending to be free VPNs — a warning that’s more relevant than ever as VPN usage spikes in response to age-restriction laws.

Mobdro is the name of a popular IPTV app that’s been taken down by the Spanish government at least once, but the Mobdro Pro IP + VPN app appears to be unrelated, piggybacking on the name to use it as a malware vector. If you download the app, it guides you through what appears to be an installation wizard, but is actually the steps for handing over total control of your device. Once inside, Klopatra abuses accessibility services to pose as you, enter your banking apps, drain your accounts and assimilate your device into the botnet for further attacks.

Cleafy believes that Klopatra has already roped around 3,000 devices into its botnet, mainly in Italy and Spain. Its report concludes that the group behind Klopatra is probably based in Turkey, and is actively refining its approach, incorporating innovations and changing with the times. Hence the use of a combined cord-cutting and free VPN app as a mask — it’s perfect for exploiting rising frustrations with both streaming balkanization and government clampdowns on web freedom.

According to Kaspersky, other free VPNs used as malware vectors in the past year include MaskVPN, PaladinVPN, ShineVPN, ShieldVPN, DewVPN and ProxyGate. With Klopatra’s runaway success, Cleafy believes that imitators will spring up. App stores aren’t always quick to take down implicated apps, so be very careful to vet any free VPN app before you download it. If you’re not sure, you can always go with one of the free recommendations from our best VPN list (Proton VPN or hide.me).



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