Unveiling the Future: Apple HomeView & Welcome Home Event 2026

We’re less than 24 hours away from Apple’s “Welcome Home” event, and that naturally means the rumor mill is already buzzing with the last-minute details of what we can expect the company to announce tomorrow.

Even before Apple announced the theme last week, it was widely believed that the company had an October unveiling in store for a new plethora of home devices. In fact, many thought we’d see them during Apple’s “Surprise and Shine” event in September, but the company clearly chose to keep that keynote focused primarily on the new iPhone lineup, which made a lot of sense with the iPhone Duo in the mix.

When that event concluded with nary a mention of any new home devices, nobody believed that Apple planned to skip the new Apple TV 4K, HomePod mini, and smart home hub that have been rumored for nearly two years now. It pretty much had to be planning a separate October event.

Nevertheless, while we’ve known what Apple has planned for tomorrow in broad strokes for quite some time, more recent reports have brought it all into a much tighter focus — including the most likely name for Apple’s new smart home hub that will become the cornerstone of its new living room ambitions.

The ‘HomeView’

Reports of Apple’s work on a smart home hub akin to the Echo Show go back to at least 2021, but they were often a mishmash of rumors about HomePods with screens and giant articulating iPads.

It wasn’t until two years ago that these begin to gel into a more tangible vision of a wall-mounted or table-top device designed primarily to act as a smart display.

In November 2024, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported on a wall-mounted “command center for the home” that was initially expected to arrive in early 2025. This was code-named “J490” and expected to be the first in a lineup of more advanced home hubs that would follow, including a “J595” tabletop device that would use a robotic limb or swivel stand to automatically orient itself to whoever was speaking or follow them around the room.

We haven’t heard much about that second one recently, but if it’s still in the works, it’s years off. As it is, we know the “J490” hub didn’t happen, but that wasn’t because the hardware wasn’t ready. It was Siri that kept holding it back.

However, with Siri AI finally launching in iOS 27 and the rest of the gang, it’s clear that’s no longer an issue. That’s why everyone expects it’s time for the home hub to finally see the light of day.

One thing we haven’t known much about until now is what Apple will call the device. The word “HomePad” has been tossed around for years, which always felt a little too on the nose, but seemed as good a placeholder as any.

But it turns out that Apple has something else in mind. According to Gurman, the smart home hub will be unveiled as the “HomeView.”

The name was also uncovered in a shell company trademark filing by MacRumors, but remained speculative until Gurman confirmed it in this weekend’s Power On newsletter. According to insiders, Apple went with “view” instead of “pad” to emphasize that the device is more about visual and voice interaction than direct touch input (although it will still feature a touchscreen).

Interestingly, it also appears Apple only plans to put an A18 chip inside — the same chip that was used in the iPhone 16 in 2024. That might simply be a result of Apple having already finalized the hardware a long time ago, but it might also be fair to say that the HomeView doesn’t need much more than that for what it will do.

After all, an A18 chip is sufficient to power Apple Intelligence and Siri AI, and beyond that the HomeView is little more than a glorified iPad that will show photos, calendars, notes, and other information on a six-inch screen, while also supporting music playback.

Don’t expect an App Store, however. This will be like the early, pre-tvOS Apple TV models, with a limited selection of embedded Apple applications. This also suggests the much-rumored “homeOS” will continue to run behind the scenes, much like “audioOS” does on the HomePods.

The HomeView will reportedly include some facial and vocal recognition features, but nothing quite as sophisticated as Face ID, since a device that remains stationary behind the locked doors of your home doesn’t need the same security standards. The facial recognition is mostly about recognizing who is approaching it to pull up contextual information, rather than unlocking secure apps or handling payments.

As Gurman previously reported, the HomeView will come in distinct models for the countertop and the wall. That’s a bit disappointing as it means you’ll have to decide where you want to put it before you purchase one. The wall-mounted version will only come in space gray and silver, while the tabletop model will also offer starlight and pink.

The Apple TV 4K

The A18 chip in the HomeView sits in stark contrast to the Apple TV 4K, which has been rumored for a while to pack in an A19 chip — which Gurman has just confirmed.

For the most part, the Apple TV 4K is expected to be little more than a spec bump, with a relatively unchanged design.