Apple today announced the HomeView, a new smart home hub that features a 7-inch Liquid Retina display and Siri AI. The device is priced at $299, is available for pre-order today, will launch on November 13, and is not available in the EU.
Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, said: “Apple HomeView is designed to be shared by everyone in the home yet feel completely personal to each user. It recognizes your face to shift from a household screen to your own experience, fills the room with incredible sound, keeps you connected to the people who matter most with FaceTime, and makes it easy to control your smart home. And it’s powered by Apple Intelligence with Siri AI at its core, drawing on personal context from your iPhone to help you find what you need and get more done, all while keeping everyone’s information private and secure.”
HomeView design and display
The HomeView has an aluminum design with the display connected to a domed speaker base by a stainless steel tilting hinge. Apple says the device is ideal for a kitchen counter, nightstand, or side table. The 7-inch Liquid Retina display includes True Tone and automatic brightness that ranges from 0.3 nits to 500 nits, making it suitable for low-light environments.
Audio, faces, and personalization
A custom-engineered acoustic system with two full-range drivers delivers “room-filling” Spatial Audio. A down-firing woofer and two force-cancelling passive radiators are integrated into the base. The HomeView supports Handoff, allowing users to continue listening to audio from their iPhone by placing it in front of the device, and it also supports multiroom audio.
The HomeView offers multiple faces to display information at a glance, including a Photos face; a “Flow” face that dynamically responds to movement; a Snoopy face that reflects context such as time of day and weather; a Home Modular face that provides instant access to smart home accessories; and a Home Camera face that can livestream up to nine video feeds simultaneously. The interface adapts based on a user’s distance, showing larger, simpler information from across a room and more detailed content as a user steps closer. The device recognizes up to six people and gives each user a personalized Home Screen with apps and widgets. Apple says personal content remains private while shared photo albums and music can be enjoyed by all users, including guests.
Siri AI, smart-home controls and communication
The HomeView features Siri AI and, when used with an Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhone or iPad, Siri AI can take action across apps and surface relevant information from Messages and Calendar, Apple Music playlists, and more. Users can customize the expressiveness and pace of Siri’s voice on their paired and compatible device, and Siri AI conversations sync across devices. Apple also highlighted cooking features that convert recipes from the web into step-by-step instructions with hands-free timer controls and ingredient tracking. The device supports FaceTime with Center Stage and includes Intercom for quick household messages.
Models, colors, mounts and availability
The tabletop HomeView is available in silver, starlight, rose pink, and space gray, and includes matching cables. A wall-mounted version is offered in silver and space gray only and can be attached using three mount options from Schneider Home. Apple says the wall-mounted model delivers “rich sound” with two custom drivers and computational audio tuned specifically for on-wall placement.
The HomeView costs $299, is available for pre-order today, will launch on November 13, and is not available in the EU.
