It was another crazy busy week for Apple, headlined by Tuesday seeing the company take the wraps off of several home-related products as part of a "Welcome home" launch wave.
And as if that wasn't enough, Friday saw the start of iPhone Duo pre-orders with delivery estimates quickly slipping by months amid its popularity and apparent product shortages, while we're looking forward to even more products launches later this month, so read on below for all of the details!
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Apple Announces 'HomeView' Smart Home Hub
Apple's long-rumored smart home hub is finally official, with Apple debuting the $299 HomeView as part of its "Welcome home" product launch this week.
Apple HomeView features a 7-inch Liquid Retina display and Siri AI support, and it's available in both tabletop and wall mounted versions. The device is able to recognize multiple users and adjust its presentation of information depending on how far the user is from the screen, and it supports Photos faces, Apple Music playlists, FaceTime calls, and more.
Pre-orders are underway now with a launch coming on November 13.
New Apple TV 4K Announced With A19 Chip, Updated Siri Remote, More
While the Apple HomeView was the headline attraction of this week's introductions, the Apple TV box also got its first update in four years with the unveiling of the fourth-generation Apple TV 4K.
The new box gets a big upgrade to the A19 chip, which provides Siri AI support and improved performance. A new Siri Remote (also available separately for older boxes) includes Find My support with Precision Finding and a speaker to allow it to make itself heard when lost. And for times when you want to use Siri without the remote, the box itself also now includes microphones for hands-free Siri AI.
The new box comes with a significant price hike to $299, and it's available for pre-order now ahead of a November 13 launch.
Apple Announces $149 HomePod Mini 2 With Siri AI, 'Sound Glow', and Four-Speaker Surround Sound
Apple's third home-related product announcement for the week was a new HomePod mini equipped with Siri AI, new colors, and improved audio experiences. The HomePod mini 2 has an S10 chip that supports advanced computational audio, and Apple says it optimizes dynamic range, loudness, and acoustic performance in real-time.
A Sound Glow feature turns the HomePod mini's top into a "visual canvas" that glows and animates in sync with music, reacting to bass and treble. It uses colors generated from the song's album artwork for a unique experience for each song.
The HomePod mini 2 is priced at $149 and is available for pre-order now ahead of an October 30 launch. Siri AI won't be available at launch, however, as it will come in a future software update.
iPhone Duo is Sold Out for Christmas as Shipping Estimates Slip to 2027
Apple began accepting iPhone Duo pre-orders in a number of countries at 5 a.m. Pacific Time on Friday, with delivery estimates starting to slip within minutes if not seconds. Within half an hour, delivery estimates in the U.S. ultimately stabilized at late January 2027, a three-month delay.
In remains to be seen how much, if any, stock Apple will have at its retail stores for walk-in purchases on the October 23 launch date, and scalpers are already selling off early pre-orders for as much as $5,000.
Apple Inviting Media to October 28 'Launch Experience'
After previously reporting that Apple was planning a two-day product showcase in Los Angeles on October 27 and 28 for select content creators and members of the media to experience even more upcoming Apple products, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman now says Apple has begun explicitly inviting members of the media to the event for October 28.
We're expecting to see several more products launch on either October 27 or 28, including new high-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook models with touchscreen OLED displays, new iMac and entry-level MacBook Pro models based around the M6 chip, and a new iPad mini with an OLED display.
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