Apple HomeView Smart Hub Ships November, 4 Colors Rumored

The long-rumored hub finally has a name

With just days to go before Apple’s “Welcome home” product experience on Tuesday, October 13, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has revealed the branding for the company’s most important smart home product in years: the device will reportedly be called the HomeView. The name, reported in Sunday’s edition of Gurman’s Power On newsletter, deliberately echoes Apple’s existing HomePod line and signals the hub’s role as the visual center of an Apple-run home.

According to the report, Apple will introduce the HomeView at a private “Apple Experience” event for press and creators in New York, expected to be accompanied by a newsroom press release around 9 a.m. ET. However, eager buyers will have to wait: the device reportedly won’t reach customers until mid-November, roughly a month after its unveiling.

Two designs, four colors

Gurman describes two variants of the HomeView. The tabletop model will feature a floating display mounted atop a metal speaker base, a design compared to the iconic iMac G4, and will be sold in four finishes: space gray, silver, starlight, and pink. A second, wall-mountable version will sit in a flat, square base mounted just below the display and will come only in space gray and silver.

Under the hood, the hub will reportedly run an A18 chip (or newer) to power Apple Intelligence features, with an AI-upgraded Siri positioned as the centerpiece of the experience. The display is expected to measure around six inches square. Voice is said to be the primary input method, though the screen will support touch — something you will apparently use less than you’d expect, because the device is designed for at-a-glance control rather than deep app sessions.

Proximity sensing is a headline trick: as a person approaches or moves away, the size of on-screen elements will adjust, and a camera plus presence sensor may identify who is in the room to surface a personalized layout of widgets and apps. Multi-user support for families is reportedly part of the plan.

A limited app lineup — no App Store

One of the more surprising details is what the HomeView reportedly won’t do. Gurman says it will ship with a limited selection of first-party Apple apps — Calendar, Camera, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, Apple News, Reminders, Notes, and a new Siri app with conversation history — and will not have an App Store at launch. There may be a compromise: users could be able to project third-party app widgets from a nearby iPhone onto the hub’s display.

Core use cases are said to include managing smart home accessories in the Apple Home app, home security monitoring, digital photo galleries, calendar appointments, music playback, FaceTime video calls, and an intercom system linking multiple Apple devices in the household. The operating system is reportedly an entirely new platform built on the Apple TV’s tvOS foundation, with an interface described as a blend of tvOS, watchOS, and iOS, complete with clock faces and widgets.

Background: a product years in the making

The HomeView has been rumored for years under codenames J490 (the tabletop model) and J491 (the wall-mountable one), and its launch has reportedly been delayed more than once while Apple waited for a more capable version of Siri. The delay makes the timing interesting: Amazon and Google have spent the last year deepening their own AI assistants — Alexa+ and Gemini for Home — leaving Apple playing catch-up in the category it helped define with Siri in 2011.

The October 13 event is also expected to bring a refreshed Apple TV 4K — the first set-top box update since 2022 — and the first HomePod mini refresh since 2020, with new color options reported. Beyond the first-party lineup, Apple’s smart home push extends to accessories: the company has reportedly partnered with LG Electronics to co-develop a video doorbell, smart thermostat, deadbolt lock, indoor and outdoor cameras, and a floodlight camera. Those LG-branded devices, which Apple is said to be shaping in design and engineering, are running behind schedule and aren’t expected for several more months.

What it means for the smart home market

If the reports hold, Apple is finally treating the home as a first-class platform rather than an afterthought — with a dedicated display, a new OS, and a coordinated accessory lineup spanning first- and second-party hardware. The no-App-Store decision suggests Apple wants the HomeView to behave like an appliance, not another app platform: voice and glanceable widgets first, deep interactions left for the iPhone and iPad.

For consumers, the most immediate decision is timing. Anyone considering an Apple-centric smart home setup — or choosing between ecosystems ahead of the holidays — should wait until Tuesday’s announcements before buying. We’ll have full coverage of everything Apple reveals at the “Welcome home” event, including pricing, availability, and how the HomeView stacks up against Amazon’s Echo lineup and Google’s Nest hardware.