Apple announced a new line of smart home products on Tuesday morning, including its first-ever smart display, the Apple HomeView.
Apple users can preorder the device now on the Apple Store for $299, and the product will be available starting Nov. 13. HomeView comes in four colors: silver, starlight, pink rose, and space gray.
The new smart display comes in two configurations: a version connected to a domed speaker base with a tilting steel arm, and a wall-mounted display-only version.
Meet the Apple HomeView, a new smart display from Apple
As part of its "Welcome Home" event, Apple revealed the HomeView, a new take on HomePod that distinguishes itself with a 7-inch display alongside its other smart home features. This display can be used for entertainment, FaceTime calls, sending messages, and more. It's also equipped with Siri AI and can use personal context from a linked Apple Intelligence-capable device to remind you of calendar entries and other business.
"Apple HomeView is designed to be shared by everyone in the home yet feel completely personal to each user," said Greg Joswiak, Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, in a press release. "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's 7-inch Liquid Retina display is connected to a smart speaker by a stainless steel hinge. There's also a wall-mounted model (which only comes in space gray and silver) that does all of the same things but, obviously, from a wall instead of a nightstand. The device uses facial recognition to understand who is approaching it and tailor content on-screen appropriately. As many as six people can set up individual profiles with their own customized home screens, making it ideal for a family household.
Of course, there are a bunch of different aesthetics you can apply to the home screen. As you'd expect, one of them will shuffle through photos on a shared album, turning it into one of those digital picture frames, if you're into that sort of thing.
As mentioned previously, HomeView is compatible with Siri AI, giving it the ability to memorize information about you and use that information to perform actions across apps like Calendar and Music. The only rub here is that you also need a device with Apple Intelligence on it, like an iPhone or iPad, to make it fully work on HomeView. That said, Siri AI's basic chatbot functions seem like they will work on HomeView regardless.
Other bonuses include spatial audio for listening to music, as it is, you know, still a smart speaker at heart. It'll also connect to other HomePod or HomeView devices in the same household, enabling features such as multi-room music listening and an intercom system that will let you broadcast a message from one device to the others. If you want to use HomeView as a hub for controlling all your smart devices (like lights and security cameras), you can do that, too.
It feels like the dream of Facebook Portal has finally become reality.
What's next for Apple?
While the HomeView is available for pre-order now, some of the other products Apple announced today won't be available to order until later this year.
With the launch of the new HomeView, HomePod mini 2, Apple TV 4K, and smart security devices, Apple is making a big entry into the smart home market, with the new Siri AI at the center. It's the second big product launch under Apple's new CEO John Ternus, and the company is expected to release even more products later this month, including the first MacBook Pro with an OLED display.
The Apple HomeView is available for preorder now through the Apple Store for $299 for shoppers in the United States, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, and the UK. The new Apple smart display will be released on Nov. 13.
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