Apple HomeView smart hub, $299 Nov 13 — pre-order a gen-1 hub or wait for teardowns?
Apple finally announced its first dedicated smart home hub this week — HomeView at $299, shipping November 13, plus an updated Apple TV, a next-gen HomePod mini, and a whole line of connected-home accessories. I'm on Google Home with a handful of Matter-over-Thread sensors and no Thread border router, so a hub is the missing piece either way. Question for people who've bought gen-1 Apple hardware before: is launch-day worth it here, or is a first-gen home hub exactly the thing where waiting 6 months for reviews, teardowns, and the second accessory wave pays off?
1 answer
- Wait for the second hardware batch
Gen-1 Apple home hardware is always fine and always 15% too expensive. The hub category is brutal at launch — day-one software, first-run Thread radios, and half the accessories won't actually require the hub anyway. $299 buys you like six good sensors. Let the reviewers find the Thread range issues and the setup bugs first, buy in spring when the second batch ships. Your Google Home stuff works until then.