Apple’s HomeView Smart Display Won’t Come to the E.U.
Trending Topics Jakob Steinschaden ● Covered by 4 sources
Apple’s new HomeView smart display is going on sale — but not in the EU. Blame the Siri AI fight: Europe gets the delay, plus the privacy argument.
Based on reporting by Trending Topics, Jakob Steinschaden — read the original for the full story.
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Apple has moved into the smart-home display business, and Europe is getting the left-out treatment for now. The company introduced HomeView, its first smart home screen, alongside a wider Apple Home Collection of connected-home gear. In the European Union, though, HomeView won’t be sold at all.
Apple says the reason is simple: Siri AI on iOS isn’t available in the EU right now. The company says it is working with EU officials to find a solution, but the disagreement is clearly bigger than one gadget. The European Commission says Apple made the call itself, while Apple blames the Digital Markets Act.
HomeView is a 7-inch display meant to sit at the center of the house, either on a counter or mounted on a wall. Apple says it can run the home, while reports from Mac4Ever and other outlets say it uses an A18 chip and facial recognition for up to six people, each seeing a personalized screen. It can control lights, thermostats, locks and cameras, show as many as nine camera feeds at once, and includes FaceTime, Messages, Calendar and Reminders. In the United States, it costs $299, and preorders are open there, in Britain, Canada and Australia, with deliveries due in mid-November.
The rest of the Home Collection is broader, but not kinder to EU buyers. Apple is teaming with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric on cameras, a smart deadbolt lock, thermostats and sensors. Some of the cameras go up to 2.5K video and can spot people, familiar faces, pets, vehicles and packages. The lock can unlock when someone with an iPhone or Apple Watch approaches, even without internet. Apple says the camera footage is end-to-end encrypted, no separate camera subscription is needed, and event history lives in iCloud+ for 10 days.
But most of that gear will also skip Austria and other EU countries for now. Apple says the cameras arrive in December in Britain, Canada and the United States, while the lock and thermostats are limited to Canada and the United States. Some devices are slated for early 2027. So Apple is pitching privacy, HomeKit-style control and a neat smart-home bundle, then immediately drawing a hard border around Europe. Very on brand.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
This is classic Apple: announce the future, then tell Europe to wait in the hallway. The company loves privacy when it helps the pitch, and hates interoperability when it means opening the door a little wider. If the smart home is supposed to be seamless, a region lock is a pretty clunky place to start.
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