Apple unveils smart music speaker

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Inc introduced a music speaker on Monday, its first new hardware since the Apple Watch was rolled out two years ago, at an annual gathering of software developers.

To be "smart", the latest product in Apple's portfolio, known as HomePod, comes with an A8 microprocessor chip, the same power engine in the technology company's flagship iPhone smartphone and iPad tablet computer.

Available on the market in December, the compact wireless speaker has some identical functions offered by similar products made by other companies, such as Amazon Echo and Google Home, but promises to produce higher quality sound.