❯ Apple to unveil smart home hub HomeView on Tuesday, with accessories made by LG, betting on a voice-controlled home

A home hub with a screenApple will unveil a smart home hub called HomeView on October 13, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. TechCrunch described it as a Siri-powered device with a display and an A18 chip that controls other smart devices in the home, in countertop and wall-mounted versions. A new Apple TV and HomePod mini will be unveiled alongside it.

No App StoreGurman added details on X: HomeView will not have an App Store and will run a limited set of Apple apps, centered on Siri and connected accessories; the new Apple TV moves to the A19 chip and the HomePod mini to the S10. He expects HomeView to ship around mid-November, while the Apple TV and HomePod mini arrive on October 30.

Accessories under the LG brandAccessories such as a lock, thermostat and doorbell were developed by Apple with LG. According to Macworld’s account of Gurman’s reporting, they will not carry Apple’s logo, will be sold under the LG brand, and LG will handle manufacturing and support, an arrangement Gurman calls “second-party.” TechCrunch noted that Apple’s smart home hub was previously delayed by problems with Siri.

Why View and not PadGurman explained that Apple wants users to look at the display and control it mainly by voice; it supports touch, but “Pad” would suggest an iPad-like experience. How well HomeView works therefore depends largely on whether the new Siri can understand requests and get them done. TechCrunch called it Apple’s most serious smart home bet to date, after HomeKit and HomePod failed to gain much traction.

▮ SIGNALApple is moving the entry point to the smart home from a phone app to an always-on screen and a voice assistant; for the first time, how smart the assistant is directly decides a hardware product’s fate.