Apple’s home products (primarily HomePod mini and Apple TV) have been the talk of the town for the past couple of years. The reasoning is quite simple: the current iterations are 4-6 years old.
Siri has been the holdup for new hardware releases, supposedly – but now that Siri AI is finally here, we should be seeing Apple finally start releasing some new Home products very soon. Here’s what’s in the pipeline.
First things first, HomePod mini and Apple TV 4K. These should debut later this fall, per current reporting.
HomePod mini should be receiving a bump from the S5 chip to the newer S9 chip, or potentially even better. There may be a few new color options, a new wireless chip (likely the same N1 we saw debut in the iPhone last year), and some audio improvements. It’ll be a modest improvement hardware wise, though the main hope is that Siri AI will be supported with this upcoming HomePod mini – making it a much more capable assistant.
Apple TV 4K, on the other hand, should be getting a bump from the A15 Bionic to the A17 Pro. It’ll honestly feel a bit dated since that’s a 3 year old chip already, but thats what’s been reported. Hopefully there’ll be something newer. Regardless, this chip bump will bring it up to spec for Siri AI, and should allow for some of the Apple Intelligence capabilities to run locally. There’s also been some reporting indicating there’ll be a tweaked remote design.
As of right now, HomePod mini comes in at $129, and Apple TV 4K starts at $199. These are the prices Apple introduced with its price hikes back in June, and these will hopefully remain stable with the upcoming hardware.
Apple’s first smart home hub has been in development for quite some time. There are two variants: one that’s purely a screen and attaches to walls with a magnetic system, and another that’s attached to a speaker base: think Google Nest Hub.
This product is set to debut “between October and early next year,” so it could potentially debut alongside the aforementioned HomePod mini and Apple TV 4K. To play it safe though, it’s in the not quite as soon category.
It’ll sport a 7-inch square display and run a new operating system dubbed homeOS (at least internally). This OS will allow the product to make FaceTime calls, interact with Siri AI, manage smart home devices, and much more. The device, dubbed ‘HomePad’ by many, will sport an A18 chip.
Also coming somewhat soon is a potential update to the full-size HomePod. We don’t know a timeline for this one, but it’ll most definitely come with a newer chip to support Siri AI to some degree. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has reported that it’s in the works.
Beyond late 2026/early 2027, Apple has a few more Home products in the works.
The company is preparing to launch its first smart home accessories: a security camera and a smart home doorbell. Rather than just making the software for the smart home, Apple is also jumping into actually making the products. It’s unknown when these’ll launch, but you can read more about them here.
Lastly, Apple will launch a more advanced version of its aforementioned smart home display product. This version will have a robotic arm and a bigger, 9-inch display. It’s been described as a tabletop robot.
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Michael is 9to5Mac’s Weekend Editor, keeping up with all of the latest Apple news on Saturday and Sunday. He got started in the world of Apple news during the pandemic, and it became a growing hobby. He’s also an indie iOS developer in his free time, and has published numerous apps over the years.
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