Apple launches $299 HomeView display and six-device Home Collection

Apple unveiled HomeView, a $299 smart home display, at its Welcome Home event, along with the Apple Home Collection of six smart home devices co-developed with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric. HomeView pre-orders open on the announcement day, with general availability and shipping from November 13. The HomeView comes in a countertop version with a speaker base and a wall-mounted version without one.techcrunch.com+1

HomeView puts Apple into the smart display market alongside Amazon's Echo Show line and Google's Nest Hub, both established products in the category. Apple's earlier HomePod did not match the sales of competing smart speakers, according to reports at the time. The new hub combines home controls with Apple's wider ecosystem, and the Home Collection gives Apple its own line of accessories rather than relying solely on third parties.theverge.com+1

What the display does

The HomeView's centrepiece is a 7-inch square Liquid Retina display with a maximum brightness of 500 nits and a minimum of 0.3 nits, the lowest brightness Apple has offered on any device. The low floor suits early mornings or a nightstand placement. Passive screens called Faces show art, photos and clock designs. The unlocked Home screen has four widget areas, similar to customising an Apple Watch interface.

There are no buttons on the HomeView; the touchscreen and voice are the only ways to interact with it. A 12-megapixel FaceTime camera with Center Stage sits at the top of the display for video calls. The countertop base contains a down-firing woofer, two force-canceling passive radiators and two full-range drivers, joined to the screen by a stainless steel hinge that adjusts the viewing angle.

HomeView runs an A18 chip, which powers Siri AI and provides what Apple describes as the data security level a device holding so much personal information requires. The device uses facial and voice recognition to tell household members apart, then shows each person their own messages, contacts, calendar appointments, notes and preferred apps, pulling data from their iPhone or iPad. Walking away locks the screen for the next person.

How it recognises household members

Unlocking requires periodically authenticating with an iPhone or iPad, with a special setting for overnight periods so a phone unlock is not needed first thing in the morning. HomeView works as a Matter controller and a Thread Border Router, showing smart home controls, Siri AI information, video calls and footage from HomeKit Secure Video cameras. Audio and recipes hand off from an iPhone held close, as with HomePod speakers.

The Home Collection contains six devices, the first smart home gadgets Apple has made for Apple Home, previously relying on third parties. Third parties manufactured these, but Apple co-developed each product. Pairing works by tapping an iPhone to the device, using Bluetooth and NFC, with no third-party apps or accounts needed. Communication is end-to-end encrypted, and all accessories are managed by an iPhone or Apple Home Hub.

Pricing runs from $199 to $349 across the collection. The LG smart lock costs $349, replaces a US-style deadbolt, uses Matter-over-Thread, supports the Aliro standard and Apple Home Key, and unlocks hands-free via Ultra Wideband. The LG video doorbell costs $249 with two cameras at up to 2.5K resolution, one facing visitors and one pointing down at packages.

Six devices, two partners

The doorbell needs doorbell wiring, can ring HomePods as a chime, and works in the US, Canada and the UK with no release date given. Recorded video saves to iCloud, processed locally on an Apple Home Hub and sent to the cloud end-to-end encrypted. Apple Intelligence on the camera, via an iPhone 15 Pro or newer, adds AI text descriptions using Private Cloud Compute and a higher iCloud tier. The lock arrives in the US and Canada in December.

HomeView comes in silver, starlight, rose pink and space gray. Apple has not said when the Home Collection devices will be available, though it has released pricing on all of them. The device had been rumoured for a long time; Apple originally planned to launch one in 2024 with an AI-powered Siri upgrade but changed plans after delaying that upgrade, and the Siri AI overhaul launched alongside Apple's operating system updates last month.