Apple unveils home gear with HomeView smart display to challenge Amazon and Google

Apple is making a fresh push into the smart home segment, dominated by Amazon and Google with their Alexa and Gemini assistants, respectively. After overhauling Siri, the company announced a slew of new gadgets, including its first smart display, called HomeView.

The ₹39,900 device can be controlled by touch or hands-free voice commands and uses facial recognition to offer a personalised software experience for each member of a household. The countertop gadget has a seven-inch display resting on a speaker base. Apple is showcasing the device as an ideal example of the benefits the Siri AI assistant brings. Using a built-in camera, the device can instantly recognise up to six different users and offer personalised responses for each individual, who could be using it as a cooking companion, for video calls or for listening to music through its speakers.

There are privacy guardrails to stop one family member from seeing another’s private data. If a known user leaves the camera’s view, HomeView moves into its default shared household mode. Also, for Siri AI to tap into personal data, each person’s iPhone or iPad must have been unlocked recently and should usually be on the same Wi-Fi network as HomeView.

Siri requests on HomeView can use on-device processing or Private Cloud Compute, which extends the privacy of the device to the cloud. When processed in Private Cloud Compute, data is neither stored nor made accessible to Apple or anyone else.

Keeping HomeView company is the Apple Home Collection — a new line-up of smart home cameras, thermostats and a lock designed in collaboration with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric. These work with Apple Home. The company also introduced the HomePod Mini 2 smart speaker and an upgraded Apple TV 4K, a digital media player.

“By connecting AI, entertainment, communications and home management through a more contextual, voice-led experience, Apple can deepen ecosystem engagement and create incremental services opportunities, including through iCloud+. However, integration alone will not guarantee adoption. Apple must demonstrate that context-aware AI makes the connected home meaningfully more useful, while addressing interoperability and adoption barriers,” Prabhu Ram of CyberMedia Research, told
The Telegraph.