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For years, Apple's answer to the smart display was "just leave an iPad on the counter." On Tuesday, October 13, that era ended. At its "Welcome Home" launch, Apple unveiled HomeView — its first dedicated smart display — alongside a new HomePod mini 2, a fourth-generation Apple TV 4K, and a whole line of Apple-branded smart home accessories built with LG and Schneider Electric. It is Apple's biggest swing at the living room in a decade, and a direct challenge to Amazon's Echo Show and Google's Nest Hub.
HomeView: the screen Apple Home never had
The headline product is a 7-inch Liquid Retina touchscreen mounted on a domed speaker base, priced at $299 in four colors. There is also a $299 wall-mounted version (mounts sold separately). A 12-megapixel Center Stage camera recognizes up to six people by face and shows each person their own personalized Home Screen — personal Messages and Calendar content only appear when it sees your face and your paired iPhone or iPad is nearby and recently unlocked. It runs Siri AI in beta from day one, doubles as a home hub, and works as a smart home dashboard that can show up to nine camera feeds at once. Preorders opened October 13 and it ships November 13. Two catches: some AI features require a paired Apple Intelligence-capable iPhone or iPad, it is English-only at launch, and it will not be sold in the European Union.
HomePod mini 2 and Apple TV 4K: the supporting cast
The HomePod mini 2 costs $149 and ships October 30 in five colors — pink, green, blue, white and midnight. It gets the S10 chip, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 6, Thread and Matter support, and a "Sound Glow" light that pulses with album artwork. Notably, Siri AI arrives on it only via a future software update, not at launch. The new Apple TV 4K jumps to $299 — more than double the previous generation's $129 starting price — with the A19 chip, an AV1 decoder, Wi-Fi 7, three far-field microphones for hands-free Siri, and a single 128GB configuration with Ethernet and Thread. It is also the only way to build Apple's new four-speaker HomePod surround setup. The consolation for existing owners: Siri AI arrives as a beta in tvOS 27.2 on the second-generation Apple TV 4K and later too.
The bigger play: Apple wants your whole house
The sleeper announcement is the Apple Home Collection — cameras, a video doorbell, a smart deadbolt, thermostats and sensors co-designed with LG and Schneider Electric, priced from $39.95, arriving in December with more early next year. Apple has watched Amazon and Google own the smart home for a decade while HomeKit stayed a niche. Now it is doing what Apple does: entering late, charging a premium, and betting that privacy-forward design and deep iPhone integration are worth $299 a room. Whether the living room is ready to pay Apple prices for every wall is the open question. Follow Global Insight for the reviews when these ship.