Apple’s $299 HomeView Is a 7-Inch Siri AI Hub That Needs an iPhone or iPad

Apple’s first smart display, the HomeView, costs $299, but it is not a fully independent screen for the kitchen. A nearby iPhone or iPad is required for much of its Siri AI personal-context work, making the HomeView feel like an accessory to Apple’s phones and tablets as much as a standalone home hub.

A square screen with a speaker base

The HomeView pairs a 7-inch square display with an aluminum speaker base, joined by a stainless steel tilting hinge. It has no physical buttons; taps and swipes on the touchscreen, plus voice, handle interaction. The display can tilt but not change height. Apple offers Silver, Starlight, Rose Pink and Space Gray finishes for the tabletop model; the wall-mounted version comes only in Silver or Space Gray. The tabletop and wall-mounted versions both cost $299, but the wall version needs a separate mount. Apple sells three mounts priced between $59.95 and $129.95.

Siri AI leans on nearby Apple devices

Inside, the HomeView uses Apple’s A18 chip and Secure Exclaves to process camera and microphone feeds on the device in a way Apple says it cannot access. That setup supports face and voice recognition for people in the home. Siri AI can draw on personal context from apps such as Messages and Calendar, but users must opt in by enabling Apple Intelligence on an iPhone or iPad, and they can limit which apps Siri indexes. For personal data, the companion iPhone or iPad must be nearby, recently unlocked and enrolled in the shared home. Guests without an Apple device can still control smart-home accessories, check weather, play music and ask Siri basic questions.

Display and sound

The screen reaches 500 nits at maximum brightness and can dim to 0.3 nits, which Apple says makes it suitable for a nightstand. The tabletop model includes two full-range drivers in the display plus a down-firing woofer and two force-canceling passive radiators in the base. The wall-mounted version is just the screen. HomeView can act as an AirPlay target and can send audio to other AirPlay targets.

No App Store, but a recipe trick

HomeView does not have an App Store. It ships with Apple apps including Alarms, Calendar, FaceTime, Find My, Home, Intercom, Messages, Music, Podcasts, Reminders, Safari, Settings, Timers, Weather and World Clock, and it supports CarPlay-enabled audio and video apps such as Apple TV, Spotify and Apple Music Classical. One of its standout features is a Safari recipe mode: a recipe page can be turned into a cooking interface with ingredients, steps and timer prompts. Reviewers found it useful on a kitchen counter, though the 7-inch screen means more scrolling than they would like.

Because HomeView is another vessel for Siri AI, the same abilities can be used on compatible Apple devices, so the $299 display is mainly about having a dedicated screen in a room.

Source: Engadget. For hands-on reviews and news on Apple phones, see 9to5Mac.