Apple Plans HomeKit Expansion With New Device Categories
Apple is preparing to expand HomeKit with support for new types of connected devices, according to a new report — and the move may matter more to the company’s smart home ambitions than the hardware it’s expected to unveil on October 13.
The report, from Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman and covered by Gotechtor this week, says Apple is adding new device categories to HomeKit while working directly with third-party manufacturers on products designed for its Siri-powered home ecosystem. Exactly which categories are coming has not been disclosed, but the timing is no coincidence: Apple is expected to unveil its first dedicated smart home hub, a new HomePod mini, and a fourth-generation Apple TV on Tuesday, October 13, 2026 — all built around the company’s overhauled Siri assistant.
Why new HomeKit categories matter
HomeKit handles the basics well. Lights, locks, thermostats, cameras, blinds, and common sensors are all well established in Apple’s Home app, and Matter support has steadily widened the range of accessories that can work with the platform.
But move beyond those core categories and things get more complicated. The Matter standard itself supports a growing range of appliances and specialized smart home products, yet that doesn’t necessarily mean Apple Home exposes everything those devices can do. Some accessories offer limited controls in the Home app, while other device categories still don’t have a particularly useful place in Apple’s interface at all.
That gap becomes harder to ignore if Apple is about to put a dedicated control screen on kitchen counters and hallway walls. A smart display whose primary job is to remain in the home and control everything around it is far more useful when it can interact with appliances, environmental sensors, and other devices beyond the lights and locks people have been controlling from their iPhones for years.
Apple is building the controller and the ecosystem at once
The rumored October 13 lineup is the most ambitious hardware push Apple has made in the home in years. The headliner is the home hub, internally codenamed J490: a device with a roughly 6-to-7-inch square display, expected in both a countertop version with a speaker base and a wall-mounted version with a magnetic attachment system. The refreshed HomePod mini and Apple TV are expected to keep their familiar designs while gaining faster chips to run the upgraded Siri models.
According to the reporting, all three devices are built around Apple’s upgraded Siri — which is also the reason they took so long to arrive. Each product was originally planned for 2024 but was reportedly held back until the new Siri was ready, since a smart home lineup built around a voice assistant doesn’t make much sense if the assistant isn’t up to the job.
Working directly with manufacturers on new HomeKit categories suggests Apple is taking a more hands-on approach to closing the ecosystem gap rather than waiting for accessory makers to build around HomeKit on their own. It’s a strategy that contrasts with how Amazon and Google built their catalogs: those companies spent years accumulating a huge range of compatible products from third parties before Apple had anything resembling a dedicated home display.
Background: the accessory catalog problem
Amazon and Google have dominated the smart home market for years, with large catalogs of compatible products and ecosystems that span everything from doorbells to laundry machines. Until now, Apple has largely relied on HomeKit and third-party accessories, with no dedicated control screen of its own and a much narrower list of supported product types.
Matter was supposed to help. The standard, which Apple, Google, Amazon, and Samsung all back, gives devices from different brands a common way to talk to each other, and Apple Home supports a growing list of Matter accessories. But support for a protocol isn’t the same as full integration: a device can be Matter-compatible while still offering only partial controls — or no useful presence at all — inside the Home app. Apple’s new push to add device categories to HomeKit itself, rather than relying on Matter pass-through, suggests the company wants deeper, more consistent control for the accessories people buy.
What this could mean for users
If the expansion lands as reported, the biggest winners would be owners of Matter-compatible appliances and specialized devices that currently live only half-heartedly inside the Home app. Deeper category support could mean richer controls, better automations, and more devices showing up in Siri’s conversational understanding of the home.
It would also raise the stakes for the competition. Amazon and Google have competed on catalog breadth and price; Apple would be competing on depth — tighter integration across the iPhone, Apple Watch, HomePod, and Apple TV, with accessories that work the same way everywhere rather than behaving differently in each app.
Still, plenty of unknowns remain. Apple has not confirmed which categories it’s adding or which manufacturers it’s working with. Those details could ultimately matter more to the success of its smart home push than another faster chip inside a HomePod — and until October 13, they remain rumors.
What to watch
The October 13 unveiling is expected to come via press release rather than a full event, and the software side will be just as important as the hardware. Watch for which device categories Apple confirms, whether the new Siri can actually orchestrate multi-device routines, and how quickly third-party manufacturers announce accessories built for the expanded HomeKit.
For anyone considering new smart home gear this fall, the advice is the same as it’s been for the hub itself: wait. With Prime Big Deal Days on October 6–7 offering early discounts on existing gear, and Apple potentially redefining what the Home app can control a week later, the smart home landscape is about to shift — and it’s worth seeing the full picture before buying in.