I’m in two minds about Apple’s HomeView. It’s a really interesting piece of kit – one that I’ll be writing more about shortly. It has a reasonable sense of focus and appears to do some things really well. But then there’s one aspect that barrels straight through ‘bad’, blazes past ‘yipes’ and ends up mired in the pit of despair named ‘just the worst’. No, not the price (although that feels… ambitious.) Instead, it’s the sheer audacity of Apple’s pricing when it comes to the two versions that you can buy.
The standard HomeView is a multi-user smart display for controlling your home, taking calls and squirting media into your eyes and ears. The standard model looks like a squat iMac G4 and costs $299/£299. The version with ‘Wall Mounted’ in brackets after its name is just the display bit and costs… $299/£299.
I’m probably missing something here. It’s quite possible this article will go live and I’ll instantly have Apple’s hitherto unknown Siri-nator 800 rock up at my door, fume at me for my incredibly stupid misunderstanding of the whole situation, confiscate all my Apple gear, and force me to work for the next six weeks solely on an Amstrad CPC. This despite me carefully reading through the specs page several times.
Mounting costs
Specs aren’t everything. And it‘s not like someone in Apple’s factory is literally hacking the screens off standard HomeViews, boxing them up, scribbling (Wall Mounted) on the labels in pen, and then shipping the result to Apple Stores. There are likely device-specific changes, not least wall-oriented acoustic tuning.
Still. The 7in displays are the same. The A18 chips inside are the same. You get the same 12MP Center Stage camera, mics and bottom-firing speakers. But with the wall-mounted option, you don’t get… the rest of the unit. That’s where the speakers with oomph live. And you also don’t get a power adapter or USB-C cable. (Apple helpfully notes that compatible chargers, cables and wall mounts are sold separately.)
Part of me wondered why Apple didn’t make this unit modular. It would have been cool had the display connected magnetically, so you could snap it to a stand and then a wall mount. The HomeView would have needed to be heavier and thicker (oh no, thinny thin thin fans) to accommodate a battery, but it would also have been more versatile.
Realistically, though, Apple wants you to buy a bunch of these things. Some for the wall. Some for tabletops. But with the former, it looks like Apple’s found a way to charge you the same for less. A good trick if you’re Apple. Less so when you’re the one paying.
