Why Apple is finally making its own smart home devices
Apple’s Home Collection is part of the company’s first major push into the smart home category. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge For more than a decade, Apple has told other companies to build smart home devices for its platform. This week, Apple launched its own. The Apple Home Collection is a lineup of cameras, thermostats, sensors, a smart door lock, and a video doorbell, all codeveloped with LG…
Key points
- Apple launched the Apple Home Collection, its first own-brand smart home lineup, at a New York event this week.
- The collection includes cameras, thermostats, sensors, a smart door lock, and a video doorbell, codeveloped with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric.
- Apple says Matter and AI-powered Siri made the new devices possible, and the products start at $200.
Apple has launched its first own-brand smart home products after more than a decade of relying on other companies to build devices for its platform. The Apple Home Collection includes cameras, thermostats, sensors, a smart door lock, and a video doorbell, all codeveloped with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric. The lineup arrives alongside HomeView, Apple's first smart display.
The launch comes even though Apple's HomeKit ecosystem, introduced 12 years ago, has remained less developed than those of Amazon and Google. Both rivals support more products and offer popular in-house brands, Ring and Nest. Apple previously had no first-party devices to point customers to as a complete Apple experience.
Why Apple acted now
Kaiann Drance, Apple's vice president of product marketing for home, said the main reason was the arrival of the right technologies. She pointed to Matter, the interoperable smart home standard Apple helped found, and to AI, which enabled a more conversational Siri assistant. Both were needed to create a dedicated home device in HomeView.
Drance described HomeView as a gateway that could lead Apple users to buy additional devices such as a camera or smart lock. She said people often do not realize what a smart home can do, and that trying one device can reveal new possibilities. Research from Parks Associates shows the biggest barrier to buying smart devices is that people see no value in them, followed by privacy, security, complexity, and cost.
With the magic of Siri AI, it comes together in a way that we haven’t been able to deliver before
— Kaiann Drance
A curated option alongside choice
Apple describes the Home Collection as a short, curated list of products it promises will work well together, compared with the wider choice offered by HomeKit and Matter. Drance said customers sometimes ask which product to put in the home. The devices were codeveloped with partners that have home experience, and Apple is also working with ADT through Apple Retail stores to help with installation.
Drance said setup requires only a tap of an iPhone, with no separate account or app. She said the Home Collection will not replace the existing Matter and Works with Apple Home ecosystem. The lock, thermostats, and sensors are Matter-compatible, while the cameras use Apple's HomeKit Secure Video instead of Matter.
