On October 13, the day Apple unveiled its smart home trio in New York, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, who specializes in Apple news, gave his personal take on the three new products.The evaluation isHomeView at $299 feels justifiable to me. It’s not an aggressive move, but overall it seems reasonable. The same goes for HomePod mini 2 at $149. But Apple TV at $299 is really a stretch; now they definitely need to release a cheaper model, like a TV stick.
The three products open for pre-order that day. HomeView goes on sale November 13, HomePod mini 2 on October 30, and Apple TV was originally also October 30 but was changed at the last minute to November 13 before the announcement. For chips, HomeView has the standard A18, Apple TV has the standard A19 (the previous generation was A15), and HomePod mini has the S10 (the previous generation was S5).
No launch event; it goes on sale directly in a small New York loft.
This time there was no WWDC-style big stage, nor the scale of last month’s iPhone launch event. Apple sent out invitations only in Manhattan’s Tribeca, with the tagline “Welcome home,” at a small loft, and PCMag had someone on site and live-streamed it. In the previous month, Apple had just gone through a CEO transition and also dropped the foldable iPhone Duo. Choosing this kind of format for the smart home three-piece set’s launch made the intended message clear: this is a product line update, not a revolution, but Apple wants you to treat it as a declaration of war for the smart home.
HomeView: The Smart Home Hub Apple Has Waited Ten Years For
HomeView is an all-new 7-inch smart display, the core of Apple’s smart home strategy, supporting facial recognition to show personalized content, with built-in Apple apps and FaceTime. The tabletop version uses a metal speaker base, has better sound quality than the HomePod mini, and comes in gray, silver, starlight, and rose. The wall-mounted version is a square tablet, available only in gray and silver. Apple apps will be preinstalled, but there is no third-party App Store.
Gurman wrote in Power On before the announcement that Apple spent a decade losing the smart home to rivals, and this time it will fight back with a full package: HomeView, a new Apple TV, HomePod mini, and accessories co-developed with LG. The calculation behind this is to preserve the iPhone’s position, not just decorate your home. The accessory lineup includes a doorbell, smart lock, and thermostat made with LG, as well as products with Schneider Electric, which won’t ship until the end of the year.
Apple TV 4K: Substantial upgrades, and a noticeable price hike
The new Apple TV 4K jumps from A15 to A19, with a CPU that’s 50% faster and graphics that are twice as fast, and RAM will likely increase from 4GB to 8GB. The box has three built-in far-field microphones, so you can voice-control Siri AI without picking up the remote. It supports Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, AV1, and VP9, and storage is limited to a single 128GB configuration with an Ethernet port. The new remote supports Precision Finding via Find My, has a built-in speaker, costs $59 (about NT$1,900) on its own, and can pair with all models from 2015 onward. Using four HomePods for surround sound is the new feature this time; older models can only pair two.
The problem is the price. It costs $299 (about NT$9,700), while in the UK it sells for £299, and commenters immediately complained that it doubled in price in a year. Some also grumbled that there’s nothing new except the A19 chip, and that they’d rather buy a refurbished older model. To be fair, there are also supporters on the other side, saying that at this price you can replace the TV’s built-in spyware, that the Nvidia Shield is getting old, and that no other box offers both high performance and privacy.
HomePod mini 2: S10 plus Siri AI—whether it’s expensive depends on whether Siri steps up.
HomePod mini 2 gets an S10 chip, comes in five colors—blue, white, midnight, green, and pink—supports the Siri AI that won’t go live until later, and can also be used as a Mac speaker or for surround sound. At $149 (about NT$4,800), SnazzyLabs’ Quinn Nelson called it absurd. People who already have several at home are even more unhappy, saying the Siri upgrade should be pushed out for free, along with an apology, not cost $149 per unit.
Siri AI needs iPhone’s help, and older models can get a piece of the action too.
All three new products are betting on Siri AI, but there’s a catch to how it works. The new Apple TV’s Siri AI involves questions about personal context, and it requires an Apple Intelligence-capable iPhone or iPad nearby. Existing users haven’t been left behind either: the second- and third-generation Apple TV 4K from 2021 and 2022 also get Siri AI with the tvOS 27.2 update. That’s exactly why existing users complain the upgrade feels underwhelming: the software is there, while the hardware only differs by the microphone and remote, so willingness to pay $299 is naturally low. The HomePod mini 2’s Siri AI is even later; at launch, it was explicitly said to arrive afterward, so buying early means paying first and waiting for the update.
Netizens’ battleground: screen too small, no 120Hz, old phone upgrade feels underwhelming
Under Gurman’s short take, it turned into a wish list and complaint session. The most requested item was a cheap TV stick. Some said HomeView’s $299 buys something new, while an Apple TV at the same $299 buys a screenless box, and a cheap stick would sell out. Spec enthusiasts were disappointed by the lack of 120Hz—it’s not even offered in the menu. The size crowd complained that 7 inches is too small, compared it with the experience of a 21-inch Echo Show in the kitchen, and flat-out said they wouldn’t buy it. Existing owners were the least moved: those who already have a 4K model feel it only adds Siri and a new remote, not worth spending $299, and Siri still has to prove it’s actually worth that.
Conclusion
Gurman’s call is sharp: a new product at $299 is fine, but an old product going up to $299 is not. HomeView carries ten years of debt from Apple’s smart home efforts, so its pricing has a story to tell. The trouble with Apple TV is that its biggest competitor is its own previous generation and refurbished units. At $299 on the shelf, every old machine is helping consumers save money, and even a 2021 model upgraded to the latest system still has Siri AI, so consumers have a hard time finding a reason to pay. So, everyone, would you want to buy this new product?
Source: KOCPC Chinese