Article · AI translation
On October 19, Beijing time, Bloomberg's well-known Apple reporter Mark Gurman wrote on Sunday that although Apple's smart home hub device, HomeView, was released only recently, its development had been completed long ago. It could only sit in a warehouse gathering dust while Apple waited for the accompanying Siri software, and its hardware already looks dated.
HomeView has been a long time coming, arriving much later than Apple originally expected. Gurman first reported on the device in January 2023, when Apple aimed to bring it to market as early as late 2024. What should have been a relatively smooth launch instead became a nearly two-year series of delays. The culprit was Apple's AI crisis, which left the company without a technology HomeView absolutely needed: a usable, revamped Siri assistant.
From the outset, HomeView was designed around the new Siri. The voice assistant needed to be able to access users' personal content, recognize different members of a household, and show each person their own private information. HomeView was also intended to be controlled primarily by voice rather than by touchscreen. Without a properly functioning new Siri, Apple could not deliver the user experience it originally envisioned. As a result, HomeView's hardware was ready long before its software was finished.
Apple therefore repeatedly postponed HomeView's release, first planning to launch it in spring 2025, then pushing it back to summer and fall. It was delayed several more times after the start of 2026 before finally being officially released last week. The product's hardware specifications also reveal its age. The thick screen bezels, A18 processor, and 8GB of memory all make clear that this is a product conceived years ago. In fact, finished devices had already been boxed and stored in a warehouse for more than half a year while the software caught up with the hardware.
One indication that the product has been in development for a long time is that former Apple employees have posted on social media, proudly showing off their work on HomeView. These people did not leave Apple recently. Some left quite a long time ago yet can still call the newly released device something they helped build. This shows that much of the product's development was completed long ago.
Even so, HomeView's $299 price is quite competitive. Gurman said Apple may have benefited from building up inventory early, stocking the product before memory shortages drove up component costs earlier this year and thereby keeping the price at this level. The entry-level iPad now starts at $450, while the iPad mini is also set for a substantial price increase. By comparison, HomeView and its built-in speaker system are better suited than an iPad to most smart home uses. The product's value for money is surprisingly good.
But HomeView also offers an early glimpse of a more ambitious Apple plan. Apple is already developing a higher-end version with a robotic arm that can automatically turn the screen toward whoever is speaking. Interestingly, Apple's advertisement for the $299 HomeView makes a compelling case for why an upgraded version with an automatically rotating screen is needed.