Apple to hold 'Welcome home' launch on 13 October, with smart home hub reportedly due

Apple said on Thursday (US time) that it will launch new products on Tuesday, 13 October, under the tagline "Welcome home". Invitations to some journalists describe an "Apple Experience" in Tribeca, New York, starting at 9am Eastern Time (10pm in Tokyo), according to MacRumors, 9to5Mac and other technology outlets.

Apple has not named any product, price or release date. Reports from Bloomberg and MacRumors say the launch will centre on a smart home hub with a screen, a new HomePod mini and an updated Apple TV, all built around Apple's Siri AI assistant.

Greg Joswiak, Apple's marketing chief, announced the date in a post on X that read: "Welcome home. October 13." It included a short video, which iClarified described as a rainbow Apple logo being stitched into fabric. Joswiak's post went up at noon US Eastern Time on Thursday 8 October, which was 1am on Friday in Japan.

What has been reported

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman wrote in his Power On newsletter, as quoted by 9to5Mac on 5 October: "Apple is planning to hold an event on Oct. 13 to unveil its long-awaited smart home hub with a screen, the new HomePod mini and an updated Apple TV. All three devices will have Siri AI at the core."

MacRumors reported the hub is a cross between an iPad and a HomePod, with a display it described as rumoured to measure 6 inches square. It said there would be a wall-mounted version and a version on a half-dome speaker base. A camera and a presence sensor would reportedly identify who is in a room and show a personalised screen.

MacRumors said pricing for the hub "could be around $350", without naming a source for the figure. Apple has not announced a price, and neither Apple nor Bloomberg has confirmed that figure in the reports seen by The Once Times.

The HomePod mini is expected to get new colours, a faster chip and Apple's N1 networking chip, MacRumors reported. It said the Apple TV 4K is expected to get a faster chip, more memory and an upgraded Siri Remote. iClarified said both devices would keep their current designs.

Format unclear

The format of the launch is not settled. Gurman says Apple plans an event. Juli Clover, managing editor of MacRumors, wrote: "It won't be a traditional Apple event, but Apple has invited some members of the media to New York City to get some hands-on time with whatever's introduced."

She added that people not invited were likely to learn of the products through press releases on the day. The 9am start is for the press visits; Apple has not said when products will be announced or whether any part of the launch will be shown online.

MacRumors also said an OLED iPad mini could appear on 13 October, but in a separate article it said new Macs and the iPad mini were more likely to come at a second launch planned for 27 October. That second launch has been reported by MacRumors only and has not been confirmed by Apple.

Background

iClarified said the three home products were originally planned for 2024 and delayed by work on Siri, in a passage tied to Bloomberg's reporting. MacRumors said the hub has been "ready to ship and waiting on Siri AI".

Apple began rolling out Siri AI in beta in English on 14 September with its 2027 software releases, and said it would add French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish in October. Apple said Siri AI would not initially be available in the EU on iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch.

Apple also said the next generation of Apple Foundation Models behind Siri AI were "custom-built in collaboration with Google and its Gemini models".

It is not known whether the hub will launch in the EU or Japan, or in which languages it will work.

Everything about the products, their specifications and their prices is reported or rumoured and has not been confirmed by Apple.