Apple HomeView and HomePod mini 2: price and release date
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We at Daily Techocracy are back with some juicy info for all you kind readers....lets get to it !!
Apple's "Welcome home" launch happened today, and the rumours turned out mostly right. Apple now has its first smart display for the home, called HomeView. It also has a new HomePod mini and a new Apple TV 4K, and every one of them costs more than the model it replaces. Here are the prices, the dates and my take on which one is worth your money.
Quick answer: Apple HomeView costs $299 and ships on 13 November. The new Apple TV 4K is also $299 and ships on 13 November. The HomePod mini 2 costs $149 and ships on 30 October. Pre-orders opened on 13 October for all three.
What is Apple HomeView?
HomeView is a small smart display for your kitchen counter or wall. It has a 7-inch touchscreen on a hinge, attached to a dome-shaped speaker base. Think of it as a HomePod and a small iPad joined together.
It runs on Apple's A18 chip, the same family of chip used in recent iPhones. The screen is a Liquid Retina display with up to 500 nits of brightness. A 12MP front camera handles FaceTime calls. The speaker has two full-range drivers, and the countertop model adds a woofer for deeper bass.
The clever part is that it knows who is standing in front of it. HomeView can recognise up to six people and show each one their own widgets and content. You can also hand things over from your iPhone, play music and podcasts, stream video and follow a recipe while you cook.
How much does HomeView cost?
HomeView costs $299 in the US, for both the countertop and the wall-mount version. That's the same price as a new Apple TV 4K, and it's well above Amazon and Google's smart displays.
The countertop version comes in silver, starlight, rose pink and space gray. The wall-mount version has no speaker base and comes in space gray and silver. Pre-orders are open and it ships on 13 November.
What is new in the Apple TV 4K?
The new Apple TV 4K has an A19 chip and costs $299. That is $100 more than the model it replaces, and Apple is discontinuing the old one. So there is no cheaper Apple TV to fall back on.
The big change is Siri AI. The new box has far-field microphones, so you can talk to it from across the room without picking up the remote. It also sets up surround sound with up to four HomePod mini 2 speakers and tunes them for your room automatically. It ships on 13 November.
Good news if you already own one. Apple says a Siri AI beta is also coming to the 2021 and 2022 Apple TV 4K models, in English, in the same countries as the new box. You may not need to upgrade at all.
What is new in the HomePod mini 2?
The HomePod mini 2 costs $149 and has Apple's S10 chip. That's $20 more than the old model sold for just before the launch, and $50 more than the original $99 price from 2020.
It comes in five colours, including pink, blue and green. A new "Sound Glow" light on top matches the colours of your album art and pulses to the beat. You can buy two for stereo sound, or use one as the default speaker for an iMac. It ships on 30 October.
Siri AI isn't ready on it yet. Apple says it will arrive in a later software update. We explained what the new Siri can do in our post on the iOS 27 Siri changes.
When do HomeView, HomePod mini 2 and Apple TV 4K go on sale?
Pre-orders opened on 13 October. The HomePod mini 2 ships first, on 30 October. HomeView and the Apple TV 4K follow on 13 November.
Where can you buy Apple HomeView?
HomeView works in English in the US, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and the UK. Canadian French support comes later in an update. Apple's newsroom also says it won't be sold in the European Union for now, because Siri AI isn't available there yet.
The countries listed above are the ones Apple named. The UAE isn't on that list, so if you live in Dubai, check Apple's local site before you plan around a pre-order.
What is the Apple Home Collection?
Apple also showed its first smart home accessories, made with LG and Schneider. They are cameras, a video doorbell, a smart lock, thermostats and sensors. They work with Apple Home, Siri and Matter, and they store video in iCloud with no extra subscription. Event history is kept for up to 10 days.
Apple lists the shipping timing only as "December" for some items and "early next year" for others. It hasn't said which is which, so don't expect them on the same day as HomeView.
Should you buy now or wait?
My view is simple. Buy the HomePod mini 2 only if you want the new look and the Sound Glow light, because Siri AI isn't on it yet. Skip the new Apple TV 4K if your current box works, since the Siri AI beta is coming to the 2021 and 2022 models anyway.
HomeView is the one to watch. At $299 it's priced like a serious device, and it only makes sense if you live in the Apple world. If you want a smart display that works with an iPhone, it's the first real choice from Apple. If you use Android, look elsewhere.
Surround sound adds up fast. One Apple TV 4K and four HomePod mini 2 speakers come to $895 before tax. Our earlier pre-launch post listed what we expected, and most of it was right.
You can read Apple's own announcements on Apple Newsroom. We'll share hands-on impressions once the first reviews land. See you soon!
Image credits: product photos by Apple. Graphics by Daily Techocracy.
