Apple launches HomeView, its first smart home display, at $299
Apple unveiled HomeView, its first smart home hub, at its "Welcome Home" event on October 13: a square touchscreen on a speaker base priced at $299, with pre-orders open and shipping on November 13. It runs on an A18 chip, comes in four colors (space grey, silver, starlight and rose pink) plus a wall-mount version, and works as an Apple Home hub, Matter controller and Thread border router, with Siri AI handling natural-language questions and voice or touch control of smart home devices. According to The Verge, personal context from messages, calendar and email requires facial recognition and an Apple Intelligence-capable iPhone on the same network; the device launches in eight countries — the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and India — alongside new Apple Home cameras, thermostats and a door lock, with the Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini also expected to be refreshed.
It is Apple's most serious attempt yet to put Siri AI at the center of the home, a test of whether it can gain ground in a smart home market led by Amazon and Google.