Everything announced at Apple's 'Welcome Home' event
Engadget · C · trust 58/100
All about the HomeView, Homepod mini, Apple Home Collection and more.
Apple Add Engadget on Google: Preferred Source Google Discover Apple is making a bigger push into the smart home domain. The company invited press and creators to a "Welcome Home" event in New York City on Tuesday to reveal a batch of fresh products, and we'll break it all down for you right here.
Among those was the long-anticipated HomeView — Apple's first smart home hub. In addition, we saw refreshed versions of the Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini. That's not all, because Apple talked up a whole ecosystem of smart home products.
Let's dive into everything Apple announced at its Welcome Home event.
Apple We've heard rumors for years that Apple was working on an iPad-style display from which you'd be able to manage smart home devices. It was described as the company's answer to Amazon's Echo Show or Google's Nest Hub. Reports suggested it would be called the HomePad, but thankfully Apple steered clear of causing any confusion with the HomePod. Instead, the device is called the HomeView .
The HomeView has a tilting, seven-square-inch Liquid Retina touch display — perhaps paving the way for the touchscreen MacBook that's said to be coming very soon — that's attached to a base with a speaker. There are two variants. You can place one on a table or countertop and mount the other to a wall.
The display itself has two full-range drivers, which complement the down-firing woofer and two force-canceling passive radiators in the base of the countertop model. The wall-mounted version doesn't have a base, but Apple says its audio is tuned for wall placement. The screen has a maximum brightness of 500 nits and that can drop down to 0.3 nits (useful if you're using HomeView on a nightstand next to your dozing partner).
The device is powered by Apple Intelligence and has Siri AI baked in. (Reports suggested that Apple had put HomeView on ice until the delayed Siri AI was ready.) You can start a conversation with the assistant on HomeView, and continue on another Apple device. You'll also be able to handoff things like music and recipes from your iPhone to HomeView as well.
HomeView can recognize the face of the person who's interacting with it (up to six people), and automatically switch from a shared household screen to a customized interface for that individual. This should mean the user will have access to their own notifications and calendar, as it can tap into their personal data from their iPhone or iPad. You'll be able to have Apple Watch-style custom "faces" on HomeView that have four adjustable widgets and can feature things like weather details, some favorite photos and Snoopy animations.
Among other things, HomeView supports FaceTime calls thanks to a 12MP front-facing camera. Entertainment options include music, podcasts and video streaming, and Apple says you can follow recipes while you're cooking.
Apple says it designed HomeView to keep users' information secure and separate. The company stressed that it doesn't track or sell your data to others.
The HomeView runs on the A18 chipset, the same one that powers the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16e and MacBook Neo. It costs a surprisingly reasonable $299 for both the tabletop and wall-mountable versions. The countertop version comes in four relatively muted color options: silver, starlight, rose pink and space gray. The wall-mounted model is available in space gray and silver. Pre-orders open today and it'll ship on November 13.
HomeView is initially available in English in the US, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and the UK. Apple says it'll add Canadian French support later via an update.
Be sure to check out our hands-on for our initial impressions of the HomeView.
Apple The newly refreshed Apple TV 4K runs on the A19 chipset, the same one the company used in the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17e. Since Siri AI can pull from personal context on your iPhone, you can ask the assistant to do something like "play that show my sister texted me about" and the Apple TV 4K should fire it up. The assistant may offer suggestions to refine your searches and it can display responses to your questions on screen. Of course, you can control smart home devices using Apple TV 4K as well.
The set-top box has far-field microphones that'll let you talk to Siri AI hands-free. It can pair with up to four HomePod mini 2 speakers for surround sound. You won't have to bother tuning them manually, as the system will automatically calibrate the speakers for your space.
If you misplace the updated Siri Remote (or a family member has), you can use a voice command to trigger an audio alert to help you locate it. It has Find My support with Precision Finding as well.
Pre-orders for the latest Apple TV 4K open today and it costs $299 ($100 more than the previous model even after a price hike earlier this year ). It'll ship on November 13.
Apple says Siri AI is available in beta on the last two versions of the Apple TV 4K as well (as in the models it released in 2021 and 2022 ). Folks in the US, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and the UK can use the assistant on their set-top box in English.
The fourth-gen Siri Remote will also available to buy separately. It works with Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K, just in case you happen to lose the thing a bit too often and want it to play a sound so you can track it down.
Apple Rather than an A-series chip, Apple opted to slot the S10 into the HomePod mini 2 . That's the same chipset that the Apple Watch Series 10, Series 11, SE 3 and Watch Ultra 3 run on, and it means you can use Siri AI with the speaker. Apple says that, along with answering questions that spring to your mind, Siri AI can help you get things done, such as adding items to a family calendar.
However, Apple notes that the latest version of the voice assistant won't be available on the HomePod mini 2 right away. The company…
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