Apple Unveils $299 HomeView Smart Home Hub, Opens Preorders

Apple opened preorders Monday for the HomeView, a $299 smart home display unveiled during the company's "Welcome Home" event, with shipments set to begin November 13th, according to The Verge.

What does the HomeView cost and when does it ship?

The device is priced at $299 and comes in two physical configurations: one that mounts directly to a wall and another that sits atop a small speaker base, The Verge reported. Buyers can choose from four finishes — silver, starlight, rose pink, and space gray — with preorders live now and delivery beginning November 13th.

What can the HomeView do?

The HomeView is built around a 7-inch square display, according to The Verge's reporting on Apple's reveal video. The hub shows smart home controls, surfaces information through Apple's Siri AI assistant, handles video calls, and displays footage from HomeKit Secure Video cameras. It also functions as a Matter controller and a Thread Border Router — the networking hardware that lets compatible smart home devices from different manufacturers communicate on a single home network.

Apple CEO John Ternus posted a short video of the HomeView on X, showing several of the customizable display "faces" available to users, per The Verge.

Why did Apple delay this launch?

The HomeView caps a product cycle that ran longer than Apple originally intended. The Verge reported that Apple had planned to launch a smart home display in 2024 paired with an AI-upgraded version of Siri, but pushed the timeline back after delaying that Siri overhaul — a delay first reported by Bloomberg, according to The Verge. Apple shipped its reworked Siri AI alongside operating system updates last month, clearing the path for Monday's hardware announcement.

What's next for Apple's smart home push?

The HomeView enters a market where Apple already controls the software layer through HomeKit but has lacked a dedicated always-on display, leaving that category to Amazon's Echo Show and Google's Nest Hub lines. By building in Matter and Thread Border Router support, Apple is positioning the device to work with non-Apple smart home hardware rather than locking buyers into an Apple-only ecosystem — a shift from the company's historical approach to home automation accessories.

What to watch

• Whether third-party smart home device makers add explicit HomeView compatibility language to their packaging and marketing ahead of the November 13th ship date.
• How Apple prices the wall-mount version against the speaker-base version at retail once preorder configurations are confirmed.
• Whether Siri's revamped AI features, which shipped last month, materially change how the HomeView handles voice queries compared with the delayed 2024 version Apple originally planned.
• Early reviews once units begin shipping November 13th, particularly on Thread Border Router performance in multi-hub homes.

The HomeView announcement was part of a broader slate of hardware news from Apple's "Welcome Home" event, which The Verge is tracking in ongoing coverage.

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