On Tuesday at 9 am ET, Apple will launch a new crop of products as part of its Welcome Home launch. While we’re not expecting a proper keynote presentation to announce the new stuff, there should be a lot to see, with no fewer than three new products expected to arrive Tuesday morning. Here’s what you can expect from the announcement.
Since this isn’t a special event, but rather an “Experience” for members of the media, Apple isn’t streaming a keynote on its site or YouTube channel. However, you can check out all of the new stuff right here as it’s announced, as well as on Apple.com and Apple Newsroom.
As the Welcome Home tagline suggests, Tuesday’s announcements will all be related to Apple’s smart home. While two of the products are expected to be relatively minor updates, they will all be part of a significant push into becoming a major player in the smart-home market, with Siri AI at the forefront. Here’s what’s coming:
Apple TV 4K: It’s been four years since the 3rd-gen Apple TV 4K arrived, and Apple is finally ready to release a new model. It’s expected to have a faster chip with Apple Intelligence support.
HomePod mini: Apple’s smaller HomePod hasn’t received an update since its 2020 debut, so to say the 2nd-gen model is overdue is an understatement. However, it’s not expected to get much more than a new chip and a new array of colors.
Smart home hub: Tuesday’s big announcement will be the debut of Apple’s long-rumored smart-home hub. There will reportedly be two versions—one that sits on a table and another that hangs on a wall—and it will run a new interface powered by Siri AI.
Foundry
There’s been a flurry of last-minute rumors about Apple’s slate of announcements, mostly from a report by Mark Gurman at Bloomberg. Here are the latest news and rumors:
Apple TV 4K: The update to Apple’s set-top box is expected to have an A19 chip with 8GB of RAM. That’s double the RAM and a big step up from the current model’s A15 Bionic processor.
HomePod mini: Like the Apple TV 4K, the 2nd-gen HomePod mini is expected to sport an S10 processor, which is actually only two versions ahead. However, it will be powerful enough to support Apple Intelligence and Siri AI.
HomeView: Apple’s smart home display will reportedly be named HomeView, which, according to Mark Gurman, “reflects how the device is meant to be used: as a display that people look at and control primarily with their voice.”
Delayed launch: Gurman reports that while the Apple TV and HomePod mini will likely ship this month, the smart hub isn’t due to arrive until mid-November, “about a month after its unveiling.”
Focus on hardware: Gurman reports that Apple’s HomeView hub will support “a limited selection of Apple applications” and won’t have an app store for third-party developers. Instead, Apple will reportedly rely on “an array of third-party accessories that connect to the HomeView and can be controlled through Siri, the Home app and other Apple devices.”
ADT partnership: MacRumors connects some dots to infer that Apple and ADT may enter into a partnership to promote Apple’s smart-home efforts. According to a job posting and conversations with people at the company, ADT has been training its employees on iPhones and has begun requiring NDAs for some training. ADT previously partnered with Google to monitor systems using Nest Hubs and Google Assistant.
According to two Mark Gurman, Apple will release the HomeView smart hub in four classic metallic colors: Space Gray, Starlight, Silver, and pink, which sounds a lot like the iPhone 6 lineup, which came in Space Gray, Gold, Silver, and Rose Gold. I don’t know about you, but i miss the days of gorgeous metallic colors and can’t wait to see what the HomeView looks like.
Apple
In a follow-up video to his PowerOn newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini preorders should begin this week. That likely means preorders will begin on Tuesday or Wednesday, leaving Friday at 8 am ET for iPhone Duo.
After Tuesday’s launch, Apple is expected to announce another round of new products in late October, including a brand-new, never-thought-we’d-ever-see-it touchscreen MacBook Pro. Surely Apple has to hold an event for this, right? Not so, according to the latest rumors. Apple will reportedly announce the new touchscreen Mac, along with the M6 iMac and MacBook, and refreshed iPad mini, via another website launch and accompanying hands-on experience for members of the media.
It’s no coincidence that this is the third such “Experience” this year. All three could have been events with dramatic reveals of three impressive new products: MacBook Neo, HomeView smart hub, and the touchscreen MacBook. In fact, the last time Apple held an event other than WWDC or to announce a new iPhone was the Let Loose event in May 2024 when the M4 iPad Pro arrived. Is the age of the Apple event over? It very well could be.
Our latest Apple Breakfast column considers this week’s announcements and examines what Apple needs to do to convince customers it takes the smart home seriously. Until now, the Home ecosystem has been a loose coalition. Because the accessories are made by third parties, they don’t have a strong unified look or a consistent level of polish. What’s needed is for Apple to take control.
An important element of tomorrow’s launch will be the products that aren’t made by Apple: the accessories by LG, Schneider, and potentially other companies which have been prepared with this event in mind, and with Apple’s (hopefully close) involvement. These products won’t, we understand, carry the Apple brand. But they must embody the Apple ethos.
Welcome to the Welcome Home live blog! Stay tuned for updates throughout the day leading up to Tuesday’s announcement. Keep this page open in a Safari tab and you’ll know all about what’s new as soon as it arrives.
