Apple unveils the new Apple TV 4K, a refreshed HomePod mini, and the home hub HomeView together on Oct. 13, then splits when you can buy them. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says the streaming box and the mini reach customers and stores on Oct. 30, while HomeView stays off shelves until around mid-November.
Tuesday's Welcome home event is one stage for the whole set. Friday, Oct. 30, is the shared store day for the box and the mini. HomeView is the product you plan after that. That later window is the plan as of this weekend. If Apple moves the hub, your calendar moves with it. You won't find a pre-order for any of the three on Apple's site this week.
Oct. 30, then mid-November
| Product | Unveiled | Ships | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple TV 4K | Oct. 13 | Oct. 30 | Not posted |
| HomePod mini | Oct. 13 | Oct. 30 | Not posted |
| HomeView | Oct. 13 | Around mid-November | Not posted |
The Apple TV and the HomePod mini share a Friday. HomeView has its own window, and that window isn't pinned to a weekday. The Apple TV 4K on sale now still starts at $199 for the Wi-Fi model. That sticker is the box you can check out today. The models from Tuesday, and the hub, still have blank prices.
That $199 box already acts as a smart home hub for your accessories. HomeView is the display you talk to, and it keeps its own date. Oct. 30 can put a newer box and a newer mini in the house while that display is still unshipped. You can set the new speaker on a shelf and still be waiting on the screen. If you came for the screen, that gap is the wait that matters.
Take those dates into Tuesday and check them against what Apple says on stage. You're listening for Oct. 30 on the box and the mini, and for mid-November on the hub. If Apple names a price, that number fills the blank cell.
A voice-first screen
HomeView is the Siri command center of an Apple-powered house. You run it mainly by voice, and you touch the screen when you want to. It comes two ways. One sits on a counter, on a metal speaker base. The other mounts on a wall, on a flat square base. The countertop model should sound better than the new HomePod mini. Hear the wall version on stage before you expect the same sound from it.
There's no dedicated App Store. You get a limited set of Apple's own apps. If this screen has to run the radio service you already pay for, or the video apps you watch on the TV, you still need the demo to say yes. A voice-first display with a short menu does a different job from a tablet propped in the kitchen.
LG and Schneider Electric are building an Apple Home Collection to sit beside the hub. The set includes a doorbell, a deadbolt, a thermostat, a temperature sensor, indoor and outdoor cameras, and a floodlight camera. LG's pieces aren't expected until later this year at the earliest. If the doorbell matters as much as the screen, that wait starts after HomeView ships. The hub's month and the accessory schedule run on different clocks.
Apple has tested a Siri Remote with a speaker so you can find it between cushions, and microphones in the Apple TV box so Siri works without the remote or a paired HomePod, but neither is confirmed for the unit that ships.
If you only need a streaming box or a small speaker, wait for prices on the Oct. 30 models and leave a working box alone. If you want the hub, plan on mid-November and skip any checkout that isn't on Apple's own page. Accessories, if you want those too, come later still.