Apple launches HomeView, its $299 smart display

Apple's HomeView arrives as the long-rumored smart display the company had not previously shipped, and it anchors a broader home push that includes a new collection of cameras, thermostats, and a door lock designed for Apple Home. The device comes in four colors — silver, starlight, rose pink, and space gray — and a wall-mountable version without the speaker base carries the same $299 price, so placement may matter more than cost for buyers choosing between the two.

On the software side, Siri AI on the HomeView is described as the same voice assistant already upgraded on the iPhone with iOS 27, without smart display-specific or home-control features. A demo showed chained requests working across calendar, reminders, and a grocery list, but chained commands for home devices are limited to specific device types — you can turn on lights in two rooms at once, but not lock the front door and adjust the thermostat in one command. The device supports Apple apps such as Calendar, Reminders, Messages, and Music, along with a few audio apps like Spotify and Audible, though no video apps yet.

A first look raises a question the demos leave open: whether people want a communal device for personal interactions. The demos, including a family-of-five kitchen scene, were described as engaging, and the deep iPhone integration gives the HomeView more personal data to work with than Amazon's Echo Show, which has a similar profile feature. But the same demos reportedly work just as well with Siri AI on an iPhone, and beyond personal context there is no compelling smart home use case that hasn't appeared on competitors' displays.