Apple unveils new smart home products, showcasing updated Siri AI

Apple on Tuesday began showing off a ​new round of smart home products, including an ‌iPad-like ​device dubbed the HomeView meant to hang on walls or perch on tabletops that will showcase its AI-upgraded Siri virtual assistant. The HomeView device starts at $299 and starts ‌shipping next month. It will feature a 7-inch screen and face recognition, will help users control doorbells, thermostats and smart locks in a market where Apple has tinkered for a decade without major success.

Apple is launching these products as it tries ‌to fend off competition from rivals, including traditional competitors like Amazon.com, which has invested heavily in its Echo speakers and ‌Ring doorbells and last week launched premium tablets, as well as newer AI upstarts like OpenAI that have hardware ambitions of their own. Investors are looking more closely at Apple's hardware sales for growth as the company's services revenue has come under regulatory pressure.

The launches also coincide with ⁠growing worries ​that connected devices, including refrigerators and ⁠smart TVs, could be vulnerable to hackers. Apple's HomeView launch was accompanied by updates to its HomePod smart speaker and Apple TV devices. It ⁠also introduced a range of accessories, including doorbells, cameras and thermostats, made by LG and Schneider Electric and designed with help from Apple.

The ​company also announced a series of devices like cameras and smart doorbells from other manufacturers designed to be ⁠part of its home ecosystem. The HomeView device will not be sold in the European Union, because Siri AI remains unavailable there due to EU ⁠regulations, Apple ​said.

Apple first released its Home app to control smart gadgets in 2016, with HomePod smart speakers following in 2018, but those offerings are competing with Alphabet's Google Home speakers and Amazon's Echo line. Analysts said two major hurdles ⁠for Apple were making its devices work with a variety of third-party gadgets and the limited ability of Siri ⁠to give useful answers. Apple this ⁠summer upgraded Siri's capabilities with assistance from Google, but the process of wiring a smart home is still too difficult for many Apple consumers to see a benefit, said Bob ‌O'Donnell, chief analyst ‌at TECHnalysis Research.