Apple Unveils HomeView Display, HomePod Mini 2 and $299 Apple TV 4K in Siri AI Smart-Home Push

Apple on Tuesday unveiled its most ambitious push into the smart home in years, introducing its first smart display, a second-generation HomePod Mini, a long-awaited new Apple TV 4K and a line of partner-built locks, cameras and thermostats, all built around its revamped Siri AI assistant.

The products were shown at a media-only event in New York and are aimed squarely at a market Amazon and Google have dominated for a decade with Alexa and Google Assistant.

HomeView: a new category for Apple

The centerpiece is HomeView, a $299 countertop device pairing a 7-inch square display with a speaker base. It runs its own operating system rather than iPadOS, with a curated set of apps including Messages, Safari and FaceTime plus select third-party media services, and it serves as a dashboard for cameras, lights, thermostats and locks.

HomeView supports up to six iCloud profiles and uses its built-in camera to show each family member a personalized view when they approach, drawing on the personal context Siri has on their iPhone. Getting the most out of it requires an iPhone with Apple Intelligence support. Preorders opened Tuesday, with sales beginning Nov. 13 in the U.S. and several other markets.

HomePod Mini 2 and a pricier Apple TV

The HomePod Mini 2 costs $149, $50 more than the original, and goes on sale Oct. 30. It adds a “Sound Glow” light effect that matches album artwork and uses Apple’s S10 chip, though the new Siri AI experience will arrive later through a software update.

The fourth-generation Apple TV 4K, the first refresh in four years, is priced at $299, a steep increase over its predecessor, though it starts with 128 GB of storage. It runs on the A19 chip, adds three far-field microphones for hands-free voice commands, and ships with a remote that can be located through Apple’s Find My network. It also supports surround sound using up to four compatible HomePod speakers. It ships Nov. 13.

Apple has raised prices across its lineup this year, citing an ongoing industry-wide memory shortage.

The ‘Apple Home Collection’

To address the relative scarcity of HomeKit-ready devices, Apple also introduced an “Apple Home Collection” built with LG and Schneider Electric, including indoor and outdoor cameras, a video doorbell, a smart deadbolt, thermostats and room sensors priced from $40 to $350. The devices connect to the Apple Home app without separate accounts and are due in December, with locks and thermostats limited to the U.S. and Canada.

Timing could favor Apple

The launch comes as rivals rebuild their own platforms around large language models with Alexa+ and Gemini. “Amazon and Google have both reset their platforms with Alexa+ and Gemini, but even their rollouts have been slow,” Jitesh Ubrani, director of consumer devices research at IDC, told WIRED. “That means Apple is bringing Siri AI to the home at a point when the competition hasn’t pulled far ahead.”