Patrick O'Rourke is XDA's News Editor and Entertainment Segment Lead. Previously, he was Pocket-lint's Editor-in-Chief, the Editor-in-Chief of Canadian tech publication MobileSyrup, and earlier in his career, he worked as the technology editor at the Financial Post and Postmedia. He's based in Toronto.
Over the past 15 years, he's written thousands of articles. Patrick has also interviewed dozens of tech industry executives and covered GDC, E3, Gamescom, WWDC, Apple keynotes, Samsung Unpacked events and more.
Patrick has a BA in journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University.
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After years of rumors, Apple has finally revealed its take on a smart display: the HomeView. The Amazon Echo Show and Google Nest Hub-like touchscreen device acts as a hub for various HomeKit-enabled smart home devices, as well as a place to control music, podcasts, and more.
Apple says HomeView was built with Siri AI in mind and can adapt to which family member is using it, pulling data directly from their iPhone or iPad. The main attraction is the 7-inch square Liquid Retina display on a HomePod mini-like base with a down-firing woofer, two force-canceling passive radiators, and two full-range drivers. A stainless steel hinge connects the display to the base, letting you adjust the viewing angle. The smart home device is powered by the A18, the same chip featured in the iPhone 16.
To me, the table-top version of the HomeView looks kind of like a square iPad mini attached to a HomePod mini. There's also a wall-mounted option that doesn't come with the speaker base, but it offers the same overall functionality. Neither version has buttons; you can only interact with the smart home device via touchscreen or voice.
The screen can reach 500 nits of max brightness and drop to 0.3 nits, the lowest Apple has ever offered on any device. This means that the HomeView could probably work well on a nightstand. The smart display's passive screens, which can be customized with photos, clock designs, and art, are called faces. In a way, this is very reminiscent of the Apple Watch.
The top of the HomeView features a 12-megapixel FaceTime camera with Center Stage for taking video calls. It's also compatible with native iOS apps like Calendar and Weather. It seems to work like CarPlay, where your most-used apps automatically show up on the menu so you can access them easily. Like the HomePod and HomePod mini, HomeView also supports Handoff, letting you transfer audio to the device. Apple also created a new recipe mode for Safari to give users a more easy-to-follow format designed for HomeView.
Lastly, Apple emphasizes that the HomeView uses facial and voice recognition to figure out who is using the device in order to offer a personalized interface and apps. Additionally, if you walk away from the HomeView and someone else comes over and tries to use it, Apple says that they'll be greeted with a lockscreen.
The HomeView is available to pre-order in Silver, Starlight, Rose Pink, and Space Gray for $300 on October 15th, with availability launching on November 13th.
More to come...