Apple Might Make Smart Home Products Like Cameras
Apple has considered building its own line of smart home accessories, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple could manufacture smart home cameras and other devices that would connect to its HomeKit smart home platform and that would tie in with a planned smart home "command center" that could come out as soon as next year.
As one example, Gurman suggests Apple could create an indoor security camera that could also be used as a baby monitor, which is in line with a report we heard from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo yesterday.
Kuo claimed that Apple is designing a smart home camera that will be manufactured starting in 2026, with Apple planning to sell "tens of millions" of the devices over the long term. Kuo says that the cameras that Apple is working on will have wireless connectivity and deep integration with Apple Intelligence and Siri.
Gurman does not seem as sure that Apple will follow through on plans to create its own smart home products. He says that it's something Apple is "exploring" that could be prioritized should its upcoming smart home hub device turn out to be a success.
Apple would likely emphasize privacy with its smart home cameras, providing an alternative to cameras from companies like Amazon's Ring and Google's Nest. Ring has been derided for its privacy policies over the years, primarily because it had a "Request for Assistance" tool that allowed law enforcement officials to request video footage from Ring customers. Ring has provided police officers with Ring camera footage without notifying users, and reserves the right to do so in emergency situations. Google's Nest brand also says that it will provide police with smart home camera footage in emergency situations without a warrant.
Apple is known for having strong privacy protections, and it is possible that customers would trust a smart home camera from Apple more than a smart home camera from a company like Ring. Apple already designed a HomeKit protocol for cameras called HomeKit Secure Video, which is end-to-end encrypted.
Prior to coming out with any smart home accessories, Apple plans to release an iPad-like smart home display that will serve as a home hub. The smart home device, which is set to come out as soon as March 2025, will run apps and will control HomeKit and Matter-based accessories.
Popular Stories
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 18.4 will be released in April.
From the Apple News+ Food announcement:Coming with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April, Apple News+ subscribers will have access to Apple News+ Food, a new section that will feature tens of thousands of recipes — as well as stories about restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more — from the...
Apple is expected to embrace a new camera system design for some models in its upcoming iPhone 17 series, and the latest purported CAD images don't deviate from what we have been hearing lately about Apple's new lineup. If you do not like the sound of an iPhone with a Google Pixel-style camera bar, look away now.
Seasoned leaker Sonny Dickson shared the following images in a post on X...
Apple has offered a reason why the iPhone 16e doesn't include MagSafe, one of the more notable omissions from its latest entry-level smartphone.
According to Apple representatives who spoke to Daring Fireball's John Gruber, MagSafe is not included in the iPhone 16e because "most people in the iPhone 16e's target audience exclusively charge their phones by plugging them into a charging...
iOS 18.4 was supposed to bring new Apple Intelligence Siri features, but Apple ended up needing to pull those capabilities from the update to continue testing. There are fewer new Apple Intelligence additions now, but there are still some new features that will make the update worth installing when it comes out in April.
Priority Notifications
Apple introduced Priority Notifications back at ...
iOS 19 is still around three months away from being unveiled, but there are plenty of rumors about the upcoming update.
Below, we recap iOS 19 rumors so far.
Redesigned Camera App
A leak earlier this year allegedly revealed a redesigned Camera app coming with iOS 19.
On his YouTube channel Front Page Tech in January, Jon Prosser shared a video showing what the new Camera app will...
In an all-caps post on Truth Social today, U.S. President Donald Trump said Apple should fully end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.
Tim Cook meeting with President Trump in 2017
"APPLE SHOULD GET RID OF DEI RULES, NOT JUST MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THEM," he wrote.
Trump's post comes one day after Apple held its annual shareholders meeting, during which a majority of...
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements.
While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way.
By the time the ...
According to a post on X today from a leaker known as Kosutami, Apple plans to launch AirPods Pro 3 in May or June this year.
The leaker also claimed that an AirTag 2 will launch around the same time.
Kosutami is best known as a collector of prototype Apple hardware, but they have occasionally shared accurate information about Apple's future product plans. For example, they accurately...
iPhone 16e reviews are now out, and Apple's custom-designed C1 modem has been put to the test. The results so far are quite surprising, as the C1's speeds are not as slow compared to Qualcomm modems as originally expected.
While the C1 does not support ultra-fast mmWave 5G in the U.S., it appears to offer comparable 5G performance to Qualcomm's Snapdragon X71 modem found in the iPhone 16,...
