Apple’s Welcome Home event today saw the launch of several new Apple smart home devices, meaning the rumours we reported on last week came true.
The new Apple HomeView is the headline device among those announced, and joining it are a refreshed Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini smart speaker. To accompany these, a whole ecosystem of smart home products will follow in the coming months.
Apple HomeView smart home hub
HomeView is Apple’s seven-inch square touchscreen on a speaker base, available in tabletop and wall-mounted versions. It can recognise up to six household members by face, offering a personalised view with each person’s notifications, calendar, and messaging, and it supports FaceTime through a built-in camera.
Both the speaker-mounted and wall-mounted models are available for preorder at $449 locally, shipping from 13th November.
The HomeView runs on a limited set of apps, with no App Store access, and its core features overlap with tasks you can already handle using an iPhone or iPad. It’s worth questioning whether or not you need another screen for smart home functions your other devices can deal with.
There’s also a catch with the wall-mounted version. It’s priced the same, but doesn’t include the mounting bracket or large speaker driver. The compatible mount starts at $94.95 for a USB-C cabled version, which does not include a power adapter, or a hardwired mount for $124.95.
Overall, the HomeView might be of dubious value to most users, but it’s nice to see a big company like Apple experimenting with products in a new category for them. I personally would have found it more fun if it took a little more inspiration from the old iMac G4 as was rumoured, too.
Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini 2 refresh
The new Apple TV 4K runs Apple’s A19 chip and includes far-field microphones for hands-free Siri. It supports up to four HomePod mini 2 units for surround sound. Preorders are open now at $449.
Apple TV pricing already increased a few weeks before today’s event, and while the new model’s chip is an upgrade from older models, the design is otherwise unchanged. The value difference against competitor devices like Amazon Fire TV Stick or Google TV Streamer is tough to swallow.
The HomePod mini 2 adds a new chip with support for Siri AI, but the feature won’t be available until a later software update. The HomePod mini 2 is available in new pink, blue, and green colours alongside the white and midnight options. Preorders are open now, priced from $229, and shipping on 30th October.
Apple Home Collection smart devices
The Apple Home Collection is a set of devices including indoor and outdoor cameras, a video doorbell, a smart deadbolt lock, a thermostat, and a set of climate sensors.
These devices are launching from December and throughout early 2027, running on the Matter and Thread ecosystems. This coordinated range is born of a partnership with LG and Schneider Electric.
Apple Smart Home
This is the first time Apple has committed resources to developing its own dedicated smart home devices. Until now, Apple built the HomeKit platform, supported it with HomePod and Apple TV serving as control hubs, and left it up to third parties to develop connected devices.
The new HomeView and Apple Home Collection are just the first set of releases in a new sector for the company under John Ternus. Some of the decisions might be questionable, like the increased pricing on the Apple TV and the locked-down platform on the Apple HomeView, but I would rather see companies try new things than sitting on their laurels.
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