Apple Relaunches Its Smart Home Strategy With New Hardware and a "Home Hub"

I took a quick look at Apple's biggest push into smart homes in years.

But after finally revamping Siri's AI this year and turning the once-in-a-lifetime voice assistant into a more competitive companion — along with an ecosystem of smart home gadgets with more support for Matter — Apple now has the brains to power the home system it's always envisioned.

It starts with three new devices: Apple HomeView, the company's first smart display; HomePod Mini 2 smart speaker; and the fourth generation Apple TV 4K.

Apple announced these products at a media event in New York City, and also announced a number of new smart home gadgets developed in collaboration with LG and Schneider Electric, including video doorbells, thermostats and security cameras.

The cornerstone of Apple's latest smart home push is the Apple HomeView, a tabletop gadget that features a 7-inch square display on a speaker stand. It works like the smart displays we've seen from Amazon and Google, but it's a whole new category of device for Apple.

The app runs what Apple calls "HomeView Software," so while the user interface may look like an iPhone or iPad, HomeView runs a standalone operating system and doesn't have access to the App Store. As an alternative, Apple has bundled a suite of apps for the system, including Messages, Safari, and FaceTime, alongside third-party media apps like Spotify. (If a developer made an app for the CarPlay standard and it's installed on your iPhone, that app can also populate HomeView.)

Siri AI augments the core experience, which Apple revamped this year in iOS 27. Siri can now answer broad questions like Gemini or ChatGPT and can provide personalized answers. The same personal context that Siri lists on your iPhone is accessible to HomeView. Ask it to open a prescription that your friend Alex texted about, or add a dentist appointment to the family calendar, and it can do it.

Apple's HomeView supports up to six iCloud profiles, and each person can set a custom view that's only visible when the device's camera detects their face. Yes, there is a camera in HomeView. A computer vision trick where HomeView displays a custom view for a specific person when approached only works if that person's iPhone is on the same Wi-Fi network and has been recently unlocked. To get the most out of the device, you need an iPhone with Apple Intelligence support (iPhone 15 Pro or later). You can't set it up with an iPad.

If you'd like to read more about HomeView, we have a separate story with more details, which is available for pre-order now and will go on sale November 13 in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India, Singapore and South Africa. It costs $299.

One of the biggest problems with Apple's presence in the smart home is its relatively small HomeKit device ecosystem, especially compared to the many smart home devices that can be controlled by Amazon and Google platforms. The Matter standard—which allows supported devices like smart bulbs, smart switches, and smart shades to interact with any connected home platform—has helped expand HomeKit support. But Apple is also strengthening the ecosystem in addition to the "Apple Home Collection".

This new collection of smart home hardware, designed in collaboration between LG and Schneider Electric, includes the LG Indoor Camera Plug-in ($200), the LG Outdoor Camera Plug-in ($300), the LG Video Doorbell ($250), the LG Deadbolt Smart Lock ($350), the LG Smartor ($0), the Schneider Smart Home Thermostat ($200), and the Schneider Home Room Sensor ($40).

These devices automatically connect to the Apple Home app when installed and are all controllable through Apple products. You don't need separate LG or Schneider accounts or multiple apps.

I took a brief look at some of them in action. LG's built-in camera tilts down to give you more privacy when it detects you're home, though there's no privacy shutter to block the camera itself. LG's Deadbolt can automatically unlock when you approach your iPhone or Apple Watch. There is a nice green LED animation that rotates the lock in a circle to show you when the lock is unlocked. LG's video doorbell has two cameras: one to see who's at the door, and one to monitor packages left at your door.

LG's outdoor camera has a floodlight upgrade ($400) that automatically activates when motion is detected. With the right iCloud+ subscription, you can enable smart video descriptions that send you alerts to tell you who's outside (can detect faces), that your pet has been seen in the yard, or that a package has been left behind.

Products in Apple's home collection will be available in December, and its security cameras will launch in the UK, US and Canada. The thermostats and door locks meet North American standards, so Apple only sells them in the US and Canada.

Apple has decided not to release a successor to its 2023 flagship smart speaker HomePod 2, perhaps thinking that HomeView, which is basically a speaker with a screen on top, will cannibalize sales. Instead, it's updated its smaller, cheaper sibling: say hello to the HomePod Mini 2.

The Mini 2 is priced at $149 and pre-orders are open now, with official sales beginning on October 30. That's $50 more than the original HomePod Mini, though it's only $30 more if you factor in Apple's recent price hike due to the memory crunch.

Oddly enough, the HomePod Mini 2 won't have the new Siri AI experience — that will come later via a software update (and yes, you'll need an Apple-powered iPhone to use Siri AI on the HomePod Mini 2). Otherwise, it's a minor hardware update, similar to the existing HomePod Mini but in new colors: green, white, midnight, pink, and black.

One of the new features is Sound Glow – the lights on top of the HomePod Mini 2 match the color of the album artwork of whatever song is playing. It also works with soundscapes, so if you ask Siri to play rain sounds, the lights will play a pitter patter. An animation like raindrops falling on a surface.

You can match HomePod Mini 2 with iMac. Pair two devices and use them as the default speakers for your Apple All-in-One PC. Apple's S10 chip powers the speaker, the same processor that powered the Apple Watch Series 10.

After four years since the last Apple TV 4K, Apple has finally found a successor. But what might surprise you about the fourth-generation streaming box isn't its hardware or features. Its price: 299 dollars

Apple raised the prices of its products earlier this year, but it's a $170 increase for the Apple TV, although this model has Wi-Fi and Ethernet and starts with 128GB of storage instead of 64GB on the last version. Pre-orders are open now and will ship on November 13th.

Once again, Siri AI is the star of the show, as Apple adds the ability to ask the assistant for recommendations or play "that show my friend Alinda recommended," using your iPhone's personal context. The hardware has three far-field microphones that allow it to easily pick up your voice when you're on the couch, even when the TV is playing content. Inside is the A19 chip, which Apple first introduced in the iPhone 17.

If you've ever lost your TV remote, you might be more excited to know that the new 4K Apple TV remote has built-in Find My support. That means you can ping it in the Find My app or ask Siri for its location, and the familiar AirTag chime will play through the remote's speakers. (It supports Super Bandwidth, so you can use Apple's precise search mode to tuck it between the couch cushions.) The remote is backward compatible, so you don't need a fourth-generation Apple TV 4K if you're buying the new remote to replace an old Apple TV.

You can also pair the second-generation HomePod's four speakers with the new Apple TV 4K, placing two speakers in the front and two speakers in the back for a surround sound home theater experience. I heard this in action with two HomePod 2 speakers next to the TV and two HomePod Mini 2 models behind the couch - it really makes whatever you're watching feel more interesting. The speakers are automatically calibrated to give you the best sound for your room.

Apple sees this as one of the easiest ways to set up a home theater. This four-speaker setup will set you back $1,000, but that's a decent price for a wireless surround sound system that pairs with all your Apple products. Just know that the surround sound feature is limited to certain HomePod models. If you have the original 2017 HomePod or the first generation HomePod Mini, you're out of luck.

The smart home overhaul comes as Amazon and Google both shake up their ecosystems by replacing their legacy assistants with Alexa+ and Gemini, designed with big language models, in what you can think of as a soft reboot. According to Jitesh Oberani, research director of consumer devices at IDC, this timing may work in Apple's favor.

Amazon and Google have both relaunched their platforms with Alexa Plus and Gemini, but even their own platforms have been slow to roll out, Uberani wrote in a statement to WIRED. That means Apple is bringing Siri home at a time when the competition isn't far behind.

Apple may finally have the hardware, but Siri AI has to prove it belongs in that room.