Apple has officially marked its calendar. On October 8, marketing chief Greg Joswiak posted a teaser on X with the tagline "Welcome home" and the date October 13, confirming a product event focused on the smart home. Apple is also hosting an "Apple Experience" for media in Tribeca, New York, at 9:00 AM ET that day.
The centerpiece is expected to be Apple's first smart home hub — the long-rumored device, sometimes called HomePad, that blends an iPad with a HomePod. Reports describe a roughly 6-inch square display designed as a multi-person household device: it would control smart home accessories, handle FaceTime calls, play video, and show news, weather, and calendar information, with Siri AI as the main method of interaction. A camera and presence sensor would detect who is in the room and surface a personalized layout of widgets and apps.
Two versions are rumored: a wall-mountable model and a tabletop version with a half-dome speaker base that nods to the classic iMac G4. Apple reportedly envisions buyers installing a hub in multiple rooms. Pricing has been floated around $350, though that figure is unconfirmed — treat it as a rumor for now.
Alongside the hub, Apple is expected to refresh two products that have gone years without meaningful updates. The HomePod mini, originally released in 2020, is due for new colors, an N1 networking chip for better Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and a faster S-series processor with support for the new Siri AI. The Apple TV 4K, last updated in 2022, should get an A19 or A19 Pro chip, more RAM, the same N1 chip, and an upgraded Siri Remote.
There is a bigger play behind the hardware. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports Apple has been co-developing a range of smart home accessories with LG Electronics — a video doorbell, smart deadbolt, thermostat, temperature sensor, indoor and outdoor cameras, and a floodlight camera — which would be sold under LG's name with Apple's design and software underneath. Those are reportedly further out, possibly early 2027, but they frame the October 13 event as the opening move in a full reboot of Apple's smart home ambitions.
And October may not be done: Bloomberg also reports a second Apple event on or around October 27, expected to bring the first touchscreen MacBook Pro with OLED displays, an OLED iPad mini, and M6-powered Macs. Two events, one month, a lot of new hardware. We will be watching both.