Apple is likely to unveil a home AI personal assistant at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, according to often reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

In a note, sent to clients on Monday and obtained by MacRumors, Kuo said that there is ‘over 50 per cent chance’ of the device being announced at WWDC and that it will likely cost more than an Amazon Echo.

An excerpt from the note states: “We believe there is an over 50% chance that Apple will announce its first home AI product at WWDC in June and start selling in the second half [of 2017] in order to compete with the new Amazon Echo models to be launched…

“We expect Apple’s first home AI product will have excellent acoustics performance (one woofer + seven tweeters) and computing power (similar to iPhone 6/6S AP). Therefore, the product is likely to be positioned for: (i) the high-end market; (ii) better entertainment experience; and (iii) higher price than Amazon Echo.”

Kuo also believes that Inventec, which assembles Apple’s AirPods, will be the contract manufacturer. Furthermore, he pointed out that a Siri device could have some advantages over Amazon Echo in that it supports 18 languages, while the Echo can only be used in English currently.