The rumours appear based on the premise that Jobs’ Mob needs to stay relevant following the spectacular failure of its electric vehicle vapourware. If you believe them, Tim Cook woke up one day and realised the future was Android after all.

According to Bloomberg, engineers at the fruity cargo cult have been tinkering with a “plastic pal who is fun to be with” that can follow users around their homes, playing Coldplay at them and suggesting more expensive gear to buy. Another robot is a tabletop device that adjusts a display screen.

Jobs’ Mob’s hardware engineering division and its artificial intelligence and machine learning group oversee the work on personal robotics. However, the home robot project is still in the early research and development phase.

Apple is a long way from being the first to consider home robots.  Amazon introduced its $1,600 Astro home robot in 2021, essentially an intelligent display on wheels that can answer Alexa commands. Almost three years from its debut, the device remains available in limited quantities on an invite-only basis.

In typical Jobs’ Mob fashion, the company declined to comment on the assumption that the Tame Apple Press would do all its marketing.