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- Apple is launching its smart home lineup today, led by its first smart display, the HomeView.
The company’s “Welcome Home” announcement goes live tonight Malaysian time, followed by a media session in New York at 9pm MYT where reporters will get hands-on access to the new devices. There is no traditional keynote. Apple is expected to publish a launch video and a set of press releases.
The HomeView is Apple’s long-awaited home hub. It pairs a six-inch square touch display with Siri voice control and runs on an A18 chip with 8GB of RAM, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who first reported the product name.
Two versions are planned. A countertop model sits on a dome-shaped speaker base with a flexible arm for tilting the screen, offered in grey, silver, starlight and pink. A wall-mounted version comes only in grey and silver. Neither has a built-in battery, with power supplied through a USB-C port.
Apple is positioning the HomeView as the command centre of an Apple-run household. Reported capabilities include answering questions, controlling smart home devices, playing music and podcasts, handling video calls, and displaying calendars, reminders and widgets, some projected from a nearby iPhone. A camera and presence sensor detect who is nearby and adjust the screen to that person’s content. There is no App Store, with the device limited to Apple apps such as Safari, Music, FaceTime and Photos.
The HomeView is rumoured to cost around USD350. It will not ship immediately. The new HomePod mini and Apple TV 4K go on sale on 30 October, while the HomeView follows in mid-November.
The new Apple TV 4K keeps its black box design but gains a faster processor reported to be an A19, paired with 8GB of RAM and Apple’s N1 networking chip supporting Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread. The upgrades target Siri AI features and console-style gaming with ray tracing and mesh shading. The remote gains a built-in speaker for locating it through the Find My network. It replaces a model that costs RM949 in Malaysia for the 64GB Wi-Fi version and RM1,149 with 128GB and Ethernet, after Apple raised prices here in June.
The HomePod mini is refreshed internally with an S10 chip, second-generation ultra-wideband and the N1 chip, plus new colours in white, blue, black, sage and pink. It currently sells for RM599 in Malaysia following the same June price adjustment. The mini will rely on a nearby AI-capable device such as an iPhone for heavier Siri AI processing.
Apple is also preparing an “Apple Home Collection” with LG, including a video doorbell, thermostat, smart lock, temperature sensor and security cameras that work with HomeView and HomeKit. Those accessories are not expected in stores until later this year at the earliest.
The HomeView enters a market shaped by Amazon’s Echo Show and Google’s Nest Hub, devices Apple has watched from the sidelines for years. Its success will depend partly on Siri AI, which can handle follow-up questions, multi-part requests and information drawn from a user’s apps.
Apple has not announced Malaysian pricing or local availability dates.
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