Apple's first smart home display is taking on a market Amazon currently dominates with products like the popular Echo Show 8. The new HomeView is Apple's first foray into smart home displays, part of a fresh push into the connected home market designed to make the upgraded Siri AI the center of your digital home.
Apple's long-rumored smart home refresh was more than just expected updates to the Apple TV and HomePod mini. Consumers now have a new device to consider adding to their home. With the HomeView, Apple faces incumbent leaders like Amazon and its Echo lineup. Because it is the closest match in display size, the HomeView is best compared directly against the Echo Show 8.
On paper, the $299 HomeView costs more than the $199.99 Echo Show 8. The HomeView offers a 7-inch Liquid Retina display, an Apple A18 processor, a 12MP Center Stage camera and Wi-Fi 6E with Bluetooth 6 and Thread. The Echo Show 8 has an 8.7-inch HD touchscreen, an AZ3 Pro processor, a 13MP camera with auto-framing, and Zigbee support alongside Matter and Thread. Both units weigh about two pounds.
Design is roughly similar, as both take the form of a display mounted on a speaker base. The HomeView comes in a freestanding version with a hinge that lets users tilt the screen, and a wall-mounted version that saves desk and shelf space. The Echo Show 8 has no hinge, so its angle cannot be adjusted.
The gap is as much about ecosystem as hardware. The HomeView works with the Home app, HomeKit and Siri, while the Echo Show 8 runs Alexa and Alexa+.
Source: AppleInsider · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing