Apple will show off its new smart home hub on Tuesday. You probably won’t be able to put one on your counter until the middle of November.
That’s the headline from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in this week’s Power On newsletter, which he previewed in a string of posts on X this morning. The hub now has a name, HomeView, and a launch schedule that splits Apple’s “Welcome home” lineup in two.
Two ship dates, not one
According to Gurman, the new Apple TV and HomePod mini are on track to arrive on October 30, with preorders opening this coming week. HomeView isn’t expected to ship until “around mid-November.” MacRumors notes that he hedged that date with “at least as of now,” so it could still move.
That makes Tuesday’s launch, which we previewed on Thursday, a reveal for the hub and a sales launch for the other two. It also means the iPhone Duo (launching October 23), the Apple TV and HomePod mini, and a rumored late-October Mac and iPad event all land before the product Apple is building this whole push around.
The chips
Gurman listed the processor in each device:
- HomeView: a standard A18.
- Apple TV: a standard A19, up from the A15 in the current model.
- HomePod mini: an S10, up from the S5 that has been inside it since 2020.
The HomePod mini jump is the big one. The S5 dates back to the Apple Watch Series 5, and a newer chip is what lets the speaker take part in Siri AI at all.
The colors
The countertop HomeView, the version with a speaker base, will come in space gray, silver, starlight and pink. The wall-mounted version is limited to space gray and silver. The new HomePod mini comes in midnight, green, white, blue and pink.
Gurman also said the countertop HomeView will sound better than the new HomePod mini, according to MacRumors, which makes sense given that it sits on a full speaker base.
No App Store, on purpose
The detail that will matter most to buyers: HomeView won’t have an App Store. Gurman says it will run a limited set of Apple’s own apps, with Siri and connected accessories at the center rather than third-party software.
He also explained the name. Apple wants people to look at the screen and control it mainly with their voice. It supports touch, but in his words, “Pad” would suggest an iPad-like experience, and “that isn’t the point of the product.”
That’s a clear bet. Amazon’s Echo Show and Google’s Nest Hub both lean on outside services. Apple is betting that Siri AI plus Apple apps plus HomeKit accessories, including the LG-built gear Bloomberg reported earlier this week, is enough on its own. If Siri AI stumbles, there’s no app to fall back on.
What Apple tested for Apple TV
Gurman also said Apple has tested two features for the new Apple TV: microphones built into the box itself, so you can talk to Siri AI without picking up the remote, and a refreshed Siri Remote with a speaker so Find My can make it ring. He described both as tested, not confirmed, so don’t count on either until Apple announces them Tuesday.
Why it matters
Gurman frames the whole launch as being about “protecting the iPhone as much as outfitting your house.” The more of your home that runs through Apple hardware and Siri, the harder it is to leave the iPhone. The split schedule hints at which pieces are ready: the familiar boxes are shipping on time, while the new category, and the AI it depends on, get a few more weeks.
Apple’s announcements are expected around 9 a.m. ET (6 a.m. PT) on Tuesday. We’ll have coverage as soon as they’re up.
Reporting reference: Mark Gurman on X (Power On) ↗