Apple will launch a new hub for smart homes in November. The company has just announced this in New York. The device, which will be called HomeView (pictured), has a touchscreen and is powered by an A18 chip. The device is intended to serve as a central control point for a home in which Apple products and other smart devices are used. Siri plays an important role in this.
Apple is offering the HomeView in two versions. The first version is intended to be placed on a table or countertop and comes with a metal base with a built‑in speaker. In addition, there will be a version that can be mounted on the wall. This variant has a flat, square base beneath the screen.
The table‑top version comes in four colours: space grey, silver, starlight and pink. The wall‑mounted version is only available in space grey and silver.
The HomeView is designed to enable users to control their smart devices using voice commands and via the touchscreen. The device focuses mainly on Siri and home control. The software will include a limited selection of Apple apps, but there will be no separate App Store for third party apps.
With the HomeView, Apple wants to strengthen its position in the smart home market. The device is intended, among other things, to compete with Amazon’s Echo Show smart displays and Google’s Nest Hub products.
For the time being, HomeView will not be coming to Europe, presumably because Siri AI is not yet available here.
New Apple TV and HomePod mini
That does not apply to the new Apple TV and the HomePod mini. The updated Apple TV will be equipped with an A19 chip, while the new HomePod mini will get an S10 chip. Both products are intended to support Siri and other smart features in the home.
The new Apple TV 4K also works as a hub that lets you control Apple Home very easily so you can manage your accessories and scenes seamlessly.
The A19 chip in the new Apple TV 4K delivers up to 50% faster CPU performance and up to 2x faster GPU performance compared with the previous generation. As a result, everything runs more smoothly, navigation is quicker and animations look better. The A19 chip also includes a new AV1 decoder, allowing you to stream more efficiently in high quality while using less bandwidth.
The new Siri Remote has a familiar design, but now also offers support for Precision Finding.
Also new is the ability to create a surround sound experience with four speakers by combining HomePod mini 2 with Apple TV 4K (4th generation). The four speakers and Apple TV 4K are aware of their position relative to each other in the room, so audio timing and sound levels are automatically calibrated. You can also use HomePod (2nd generation) in a four‑speaker configuration for optimal audio. It is then important that you use two speakers of the same type at the front and two of the same type at the back.
Apple’s S10 chip and advanced computational audio in the new smaller HomePod analyse music in real time so they can optimise dynamic range, volume output and acoustic reproduction. Also new is the ability to create a surround sound experience with four speakers by combining HomePod mini 2 with Apple TV 4K (4th generation). The four speakers and the new Apple TV 4K are aware of their position relative to each other in the room, so audio timing and sound levels are automatically calibrated.
The new HomePod mini can also be used as a speaker for Mac, for “great sound” with everything you do on your Mac: watching films, gaming, FaceTime, video calls and more.
Apple TV 4K (4th generation) will be available from 13 November for €349. HomePod mini 2 will be available in pink, green, blue, white and midnight and will be in stores from Friday 30 October for €169.
On 27 October, new MacBook Pro models and an OLED iPad mini are reportedly set to be announced.
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