Apple’s long-awaited smart home push is going to come with a doorbell, a smart lock and a thermostat. It just won’t put its own logo on them. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple worked with LG Electronics to develop a set of accessories built around its upcoming home hub, and LG will be the name on the box.
The seven devices
Bloomberg’s report draws on regulatory filings LG made with the FCC and UL Solutions in recent weeks. As summarized by 9to5Mac and MacRumors, the lineup is:
- LG Video Doorbell Wired
- LG Smart Deadbolt Lock
- LG Smart Thermostat
- LG Temperature Sensor
- LG Indoor Cam Plug-In
- LG Outdoor Cam Plug-In
- LG Floodlight Cam
The filings don’t mention Apple at all. Bloomberg’s sources say Apple helped shape the designs, features and engineering, while LG handles manufacturing and customer support. LG also asked regulators to keep photos and detailed specs confidential until early next year.
What the filings show
MacRumors dug into the FCC records and posted a first look at three of the devices on Wednesday:
- The thermostat is a round, puck-shaped unit that runs on standard 24-volt AC wiring.
- The temperature sensor is also round, runs on a replaceable coin-cell battery, measures temperature and humidity, and has a magnetic back for mounting. It connects over Bluetooth Low Energy and Thread.
- The deadbolt comes in Graphite and Silver and runs on four AA batteries. It supports Bluetooth, Thread, NFC and ultra-wideband. An FCC document describes it checking a nearby device’s credentials over Bluetooth, then using UWB to work out where that device is before it unlocks. That’s the setup you’d need for the door to unlock as you walk up with your iPhone or Apple Watch.
Across the lineup, Bloomberg says the devices support Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Thread and Matter, the cross-platform smart home standard.
When you can actually buy them
Not soon. Apple’s own hardware, the new home hub, a refreshed Apple TV 4K and a new HomePod mini, is still expected on October 13. The LG accessories are reportedly a few months behind that.
Gurman also cleared up one point of confusion in a follow-up post on X: the LG cameras are separate from the privacy-focused home camera and sensor Apple is building itself. That Apple-branded device reportedly won’t record video at all, using AI to sense which room people are in. It’s still expected in 2027.
Why Apple would do it this way
Bloomberg frames the whole effort as a formal reboot of HomeKit, the platform Apple launched in 2014 that never caught up with its rivals. Ring and Nest own doorbells and cameras. Apple’s past approach, certifying third-party gear and leaving the hardware to others, left HomeKit with a scattered mix of devices and no flagship doorbell or camera of its own.
Letting LG build and support the products gets Apple a full set of door, climate and camera hardware without building it all itself or running a returns desk for deadbolts. It’s also a relationship that already works. LG built the UltraFine 4K and 5K displays Apple sold for Macs, and LG bought a majority stake in the Homey smart home platform in 2024.
There’s a catch for buyers. With LG’s name on the hardware, customer support will come from LG, not Apple. How closely these accessories feel like Apple products, especially the auto-unlocking deadbolt, will depend on how much of the setup and control lives in Apple’s Home app and the new hub. We should get the first real answers on October 13.
Reporting reference: Bloomberg ↗