Report: HomeView sat boxed for a year; a robotic version is next

Apple only announced HomeView on October 13, but according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the product is older than it looks, and its successor is already in the works. In his Sunday Power On newsletter, summarised by 9to5Mac and Gizmodo, Gurman makes two claims.

Hardware waiting for software

The first is about the past. Gurman says the HomeView units now heading to buyers "have been sitting boxed up in warehouses for the better part of a year, waiting for the software to catch up". He has reported before that the project was effectively frozen while Apple struggled to finish its AI-powered Siri, a gap Apple eventually filled with help from a Google AI model.

That helps explain some of the spec choices Gizmodo points out: the $299 display uses an A18 chip and 8 GB of memory, hardware that was current when the device was designed rather than when it ships.

J595: a HomeView that turns to face you

The second claim is about the future. One common complaint about HomeView is that if several people sit around a table, someone has to turn the screen by hand. Gurman says Apple has a fix planned: a souped-up version, code-named J595, for release in 2027 or 2028. It reportedly looks like today's model but has a screen of roughly 9 inches (up from 7) and a motorised robotic arm that lets the display swivel a full 360 degrees. Using voice recognition, it would work out who is speaking and turn toward them.

9to5Mac expects it to sit above the current model as a pricier option rather than replace it. Apple has not announced or confirmed anything about it.

What it means for buyers

For now, nothing changes for the HomeView itself: the hardware is fixed, and most improvements will come through software updates. If you are building a smart home around Apple, the more important choice is still the platform underneath. Our explainer on Matter and Thread covers which devices will work together, and the wider Apple Home Collection shows where Apple is heading with partners like LG.