“Welcome home.” – Experience Thoughts and Predictions

Just over a month after the first Keynote of the John Ternus era, Apple has scheduled another product unveiling for Tuesday the 13th of October, this time with the tagline “Welcome home.”

Like the experience back in March, this one is not expected to be a full Keynote, with Apple instead inviting selected members of the press to Tribeca in New York. I expect attendees to be treated to what will look like the set of a sitcom, with Apple products set up in what would resemble the rooms of a house, but they wouldn’t be inviting people to New York just to see the refreshed HomePod mini…

HomePad

The star of the show is expected to be a new product category for Apple, the HomePad, which has reportedly been shelved for over a year because of the delays to the Siri improvements which were finally included in the OS 27 updates.

The HomePad, essentially a stationary iPad for the home, is expected to be available in two variants. One will sit on a speaker base, with a design harking back to the iMac G4 (a design I still lust after 20 years later!), and one that attaches to a wall, with both designs not featuring a battery and requiring continuous power.

The HomePad’s main focus will be smart home control akin to the Home app (lights, thermostats, viewing camera feeds etc), music controls, and it will also support access to shared calendars and photos, with the main interactions leveraging voice and therefore Siri AI.

One of the most interesting aspects is how the HomePad will identify individuals for personal requests, using both voice and the camera, but it will not feature a dedicated Face ID sensor. Once a user is identified it will be able to access more personal data, such as Calendars, Reminders, Messages etc, but the HomePad will also mirror Live Activities from their iPhone as is already the case between the iPhone and Mac. I expect the absence of Face ID is due to a number of factors. Firstly it’s not cheap to include, but also it has a limited range so it is more than likely that during testing it didn’t work great in the context of the home. Moreover given the HomePad is designed to be set up in a home, if your doppelgänger manages to gain access to it to fool the camera you have bigger problems!

Rumours disagree on the size of the display, with a roughly square 6 inch or 7 inch screen both being mentioned. The need for Apple Intelligence, and therefore 8 GB of RAM, suggests the SoC will be at least an A18. Given that the HomePad is likely to see only a handful of interactions throughout the day, RAM rather than SoC performance is the limiting factor when selecting a chip, which is why I wouldn’t expect to see the A20 Pro, which was unveiled last month, or even the A19 from the iPhone 17.

It is also expected to run a new operating system, most commonly referred to as homeOS, bringing together elements of watchOS, tvOS and iPadOS. It won’t launch with an App Store of its own, and will leverage extensions such as the aforementioned Live Activities, which are bundled with iPhone apps.

The price is the big unknown, with the figure of $350 often being cited, but I expect the two variants to come in at different price points, with the speaker stand variant coming in at $50 more than the wall-mounted option.

Apple TV

The Apple TV is set to get its first update since 2022, and given the price bump in June it’s set to be somewhat underwhelming with an unchanged exterior design. The A15 Bionic is expected to be replaced by the A17 Pro, which is the oldest chip that supports Apple Intelligence, along with the N1 wireless chip that Apple introduced with the iPhone 17 line.

It currently costs $199 for 64 GB and $249 for 128 GB, and I can’t see Apple raising the price again after already receiving a price bump in June.

HomePod mini

The HomePod mini is also expected to look the same as the current model but with a faster SoC, most likely an S9 or better, and improved audio. There are however expected to be updates to the colours, with the yellow and orange being dropped in favour of pink and green, alongside a slightly lighter blue and the existing white and black.

Like the Apple TV the HomePod got a price bump in June, so I expect it to stay at $129.

Everything Else

Apple is reported to have co-developed a range of home accessories with LG, including a doorbell, a smart lock, a thermostat and a number of cameras. The reports suggest that LG will sell them under its own brand in a few months, with them being available in the Apple Store as well as the usual locations. Meanwhile Apple’s own cameras have apparently been pushed back to 2027. I would be surprised to see any of them make an appearance beyond a Bento slide, but as the HomePad is a home hub, I wouldn’t rule out a mention.

An OLED iPad mini and the OLED MacBook Pro are not expected to be part of this announcement as they aren’t part of the home theme, with the reports suggesting they will follow later in the month, but I expect relevant attendees to be given an iPhone Duo to review.