Apple began taking preorders Tuesday for HomeView, a $299 smart display with a 7-inch screen, face recognition and a new Siri AI assistant, but European Union buyers are left out.
Key Points:
- HomeView costs $299 in the U.S., opened for preorders Tuesday and ships Nov. 13.
- The display recognizes up to six household members by face and runs Siri AI on an A18 chip.
- Apple will not sell HomeView in the EU because Siri AI is still unavailable there.
Apple HomeView Rollout
The company detailed HomeView in a statement Tuesday and said deliveries will begin Nov. 13, a month after the reveal.
Customers in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India can order either model now. Singapore follows on Oct. 15, and South Africa will sell it through authorized resellers.
The European Union is off the list entirely, because Siri AI, the assistant at the center of the device, remains unavailable in iOS across the bloc. Apple said it is working with EU officials to find a way forward.
Launch coverage confirmed two versions at the same price, a tabletop unit with a domed speaker base and a wall model that needs a separate mount starting at $59.95. The tabletop model comes in four colors, the wall model in two. The wall version also lacks the base's down-firing woofer and two force-cancelling passive radiators, according to Apple's specifications.
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Siri AI Face Recognition
HomeView runs on an A18 chip and recognizes up to six people by face, giving each a personal Home Screen with apps and widgets. Messages and Calendar content appears only when the owner is recognized and a paired iPhone or iPad sits nearby and was recently unlocked, while shared albums and music stay open to guests.
Greg Joswiak, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, said the device should be shared by a whole household "yet feel completely personal to each user." He called Siri AI the core of the product. At launch, it works only in English, in eight markets.
Mark Gurman's View
Mark Gurman, a longtime Apple reporter, wrote two days before the launch that the company had spent a decade losing the smart home market. He framed the new lineup, which includes a refreshed Apple TV 4K, a new HomePod mini and accessories made with LG, as a bid to catch up and keep buyers tied to the iPhone.
HomeView arrives after weeks of leaks. Gurman reported on Sept. 30 that the hub would borrow the iMac G4's design with a square 6-inch screen, though the final display measures 7 inches.
On Oct. 11, he added the HomeView name, first spotted in a trademark filing, along with the A18 chip, a mid-November ship date and the lack of an App Store.
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