Apple home hub event set for October as launch teased

Apple made its smart-home plans official this week. The company set a 'Welcome home' launch event for Tuesday, October 13, where the long-rumored Apple home hub is expected to take center stage. Greg Joswiak, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, announced the date on October 8 with a short teaser video: hands stitching the company's retro rainbow logo into fabric, followed by the words 'Welcome home.' According to MacRumors, invited reporters will gather for an Apple Experience in Tribeca, New York, starting at 9 a.m. ET, with hands-on time expected for the new hardware.

Coverage from MacRumors, Engadget, and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman points to the same centerpiece: a brand-new Apple home hub that blends an iPad with a HomePod. It is expected to carry a roughly six-inch square display, run on an A18 chip or newer for Apple Intelligence, and put Siri AI at the center of daily use. Voice will be the main way to interact with it, controlling lights and other accessories through the Apple Home app, with FaceTime video calls, music playback, news, weather, and calendar appointments along for the ride.

A camera and a presence sensor are expected to detect when someone is in the room and figure out who it is, so the screen can show a customized layout of widgets and apps for each person in the household. Engadget reported that the device will use face and voice recognition to personalize content, and support intercom-style communication with other Apple devices. It is a design meant for families and shared apartments, where one kitchen-counter screen has to serve more than one person.

Two versions of the Apple home hub

Apple is expected to show the Apple home hub in two form factors: a wall-mounted version and a tabletop model with a half-dome speaker base reminiscent of the iMac G4, held up by a manually tilting metal arm. Bloomberg's reporting describes Apple picturing buyers placing a hub in several rooms, from the kitchen to the bedroom and living room. A new operating system, possibly called homeOS, would power clock faces and widgets, with preinstalled apps like Calendar, Camera, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, Apple News, Reminders, and Notes.

There is one notable limit: MacRumors reports the Apple home hub will not ship with an App Store at launch, so third-party apps will have to wait. A price rumored to sit around $350 has circulated in coverage, though Apple has not confirmed it. The delay is old news by now; Gurman reported that Apple held the device back until a more capable version of Siri was ready, which makes Tuesday's event the payoff for years of behind-the-scenes work.

HomePod mini and Apple TV are getting refreshes too

The Apple home hub may not arrive alone. The same reporting points to a refreshed HomePod mini with new colors, an N1 networking chip for better Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and a faster S-series processor that supports Siri AI. Recent macOS beta code even suggests the revamped speaker could gain a display with an Apple Watch-style interface, although that detail is unconfirmed.

A new Apple TV 4K is also expected, with an A19-class chip, more RAM, the same networking chip, and an upgraded Siri Remote, according to MacRumors. It would be the first major update to Apple's streaming box since the current model arrived in 2022, while the HomePod mini has gone without a significant refresh since its 2020 debut. Together, the three products would give Apple its first complete smart-home lineup in years.

The bigger question is whether Apple can catch up in a category Amazon and Google defined years ago. Apple's bet is that a smarter Siri, face and voice recognition for the whole household, and tight integration with the iPhone will be enough to win shared spaces like kitchens and dorm rooms. Apple has not said whether Tuesday's event will be livestreamed or limited to the hands-on session in New York, but the new hardware is expected to be detailed that morning. After years of rumors, the Apple home hub is about to get its first real audience.