Apple launches HomeView hub and first-party Home Collection smart home lineup

At its "Welcome Home" event in New York City, Apple announced the HomeView, a $299 smart home display that starts shipping on November 13, according to The Verge. The bigger story is what surrounds it: the Apple Home Collection, the company's first lineup of first-party smart home accessories — a smart lock, video doorbell, security cameras and thermostats — co-developed with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric and due in December.

The HomeView hub

The Verge describes the HomeView as a 7-inch square display sold in two configurations: one that mounts to a wall and one that sits on a small speaker base. It serves as a control surface for smart home devices, answers questions through Apple's recently overhauled Siri AI, handles video calls and displays feeds from HomeKit Secure Video cameras. It also functions as a Matter controller and a Thread Border Router, making it a hub for standards-based accessories beyond Apple's own ecosystem.

Preorders opened on the day of the event in four colors — silver, starlight, rose pink and space gray — and Apple CEO John Ternus posted a video on X showing the different "faces" the display can wear.

The launch ends a long wait. The Verge reports, citing Bloomberg, that Apple originally planned to release a smart home display in 2024 alongside an AI-powered Siri, but reworked its plans when the Siri upgrade slipped. That overhaul finally shipped with Apple's OS updates last month.

First-party hardware, partner-built

According to The Verge, the Home Collection devices are the first smart home gadgets Apple has made for its own Home platform, having previously left accessories to third parties. TechCrunch highlights the irony that even now they are built with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric — a departure for a company that has long preferred to build its own hardware. Apple says it co-developed each product and designed them to work seamlessly with Apple Home.

The Verge counts six devices in total, sharing a restrained black-and-silver design language, with tubular cameras built to blend in rather than show off.

Setup is central to the pitch. The Verge reports that everything works through the Apple Home app with no third-party apps or accounts, and pairs by tapping an iPhone against the device over Bluetooth and NFC — the same flow as a HomePod or AirPods. Communication is end-to-end encrypted, and camera footage is processed locally on an Apple Home Hub before being sent encrypted to the cloud.

Locks, doorbells and cameras

The LG-made deadbolt costs $349 (TechCrunch lists $349.95) and is the headline device. It supports Apple Home Key with hands-free unlocking over ultra-wideband — only the third lock on the market to do so, The Verge notes — so the door unlocks automatically when an authorized phone or watch is in a pocket or bag. There is also a rotating PIN keypad with a physical keyhole hidden beneath it, a manual thumbturn, AA batteries, Matter-over-Thread connectivity and support for the Aliro standard. It arrives in the US and Canada in December.

The wired video doorbell costs $249 ($249.95 per TechCrunch) and carries two cameras — one for visitors, one aimed down at packages — recording up to 2.5K, plus a motion-activated light for the doorstep. It rings HomePods as a chime and uses HomeKit Secure Video for notifications about familiar faces, pets, packages and vehicles. Recordings are saved automatically to iCloud for subscribers, and with Apple Intelligence enabled on an iPhone 15 Pro or newer, the doorbell can generate AI text descriptions of clips, processed via Private Cloud Compute and requiring a higher iCloud storage tier. Availability covers the US, Canada and the UK, though The Verge says no release date has been given.

Rounding out the cameras are a $199 indoor model that can automatically tilt down when you arrive home — paired with HomeKit Secure Video's ability to stop recording — and a wired outdoor camera at $299, or $399 with motion-activated floodlights ($399.95 per TechCrunch). The Verge notes the HomeView can display up to nine live camera feeds at once.

Thermostats and sensors

Two thermostats — a round LG model and a square Schneider Electric model — cost $199 each, target North American HVAC systems, work with or without a C-wire, support Matter, and ship with remote temperature and humidity sensors. TechCrunch also lists a standalone temperature sensor in the lineup. Both outlets point to a December release in the US and Canada, though TechCrunch reports the whole collection lands that month while The Verge says only the lock and thermostats are dated so far.

The event also featured a new Apple TV 4K and a HomePod Mini 2, according to The Verge, rounding out a hardware-heavy smart home refresh.

Why it matters

The Home Collection closes a structural gap in Apple's smart home strategy. Amazon has Ring and Google has Nest; until now, Apple had no first-party starter kit to point customers toward. Combined with the HomeView, the upgraded Siri and Matter and Thread support, this is Apple's most complete smart home offering yet — and a direct challenge to Ring and Nest in connected home security, as TechCrunch observes. The open question, as The Verge cautions, is whether Apple has solved the installation and connectivity headaches that plague smart home gear; that will only become clear once the devices are in homes and tested.