😔 Apple’s wall-mounted HomeView is a worse deal than we thought
🤔 It’s the same $299 as the freestanding version, but comes without key accessories
🤷♂️ There isn’t a power adapter, USB-C cable, mounting hardware or a stand included
💰 It means you’re getting a worse overall product for the same price as the other version, which is nonsensical
Apple recently announced its new HomeView smart home display, complete with Siri AI, to some great fanfare.
To be fair, it looks like a nice little product, with a 7-inch Liquid Retina display, a solid A18 chip powering the whole thing, and the benefit of Siri AI with face recognition for six users.
It also supports Spatial Audio, will play nicely with more than just HomeKit thanks to support for Matter and up to nine camera feeds, so it can be quite the smart home hub.
Plus, Apple has been versatile enough to offer HomeView as both a freestanding and a wall-mounted device, although that appears to be where the similarities end. Oh, apart from the $299 price tag.
As spotted by MacRumors, if you purchase the wall-mounted HomeView, it ships without a mount, power adapter or even a USB-C cable, requiring a multitude of separate purchases.
A new support document that states the wall-mounted HomeView needs a 20W power adapter with support for 9V at 2.22A or higher, while the tabletop model requires a USB-C adapter for at least 30W, with 15V at 2A or higher.
The tabletop model includes a 30W power adapter and a 1.5-meter USB-C cable in the box, while the wall-mounted version contains only the device and documentation.
Those who choose the wall-mounted HomeView, therefore, will need to purchase a compatible third-party mount and power solution, taking the cost above the $299 asking price.
Depending on the mount you choose, the device can use a separate USB-C cable and power adapter or a hard-wired connection.
This feels like a bit of a misstep from Apple, given the identical pricing for both models, and what you’re missing out on.
The other thing missing, apart from a power adapter and cable, is the speaker stand. It means you won’t get as optimal audio out of this variant of the HomeView, potentially giving you an inferior experience.
Likewise, you’ll need to purchase a way of mounting it to the wall, which seems fundamental to the user experience of the wall-mounted HomeView, and there doesn’t seem to be any logical explanation as to why this is.
Apple’s wall-mounted HomeView may be a capable smart home hub, but at the same $299 as the tabletop model, it leaves you to sort out the mount, power adapter and cable yourself. Those extra purchases push the real cost above the sticker price, so unless you specifically need it on a wall, the tabletop version is the better value.
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Reece Bithrey is a journalist with bylines for Trusted Reviews, Digital Foundry, PC Gamer, TechRadar and more. He also has his own blog, UNTITLED, and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in International History and Politics in 2023.