Report: Apple is Working With LG on New Smart Home Accessories

Apple has reportedly partnered with LG to develop a new line of smart home accessories that will work with the company’s upcoming smart home hub, which is expected to be officially revealed on October 13. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman is reporting today that the various smart home products will be manufactured by LG and sport the Korean brand. They should launch over the next couple of months after Apple gets its new smart display, Apple TV, and HomePod mini out of the door.

“According to the report, the first products coming from this new partnership with LG include a doorbell, thermostat, smart deadbolt lock, indoor security camera, outdoor security camera, and floodlight camera. Most of them will support Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, as well as the Thread and Matter smart home protocols. The LG-branded door lock, however, is also expected to support ultra-wideband capability (UWB), which would allow iPhones to automatically unlock it.

“For Apple, the new home ecosystem and devices will mark a formal reboot of HomeKit, a platform it launched in 2014 that has gained little traction compared with offerings from Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google,” Gurman reported. The new smart home devices will also follow the launch of Apple’s new Siri AI assistant, which will be deeply integrated into the company’s upcoming smart display. The refreshed Apple TV and HomePod mini are also expected to support this new Siri AI.

Overall, partnering with LG, one of the biggest manufacturers of consumer electronics, would help Apple to better compete with Amazon and Google, its main competitors in the smart home space. This should also give Apple more time to develop its own smart home devices that, according to Bloomberg, will include sensors and security cameras.

Apple’s smart home ecosystem may still be hindered by the limited availability of Siri AI, however. The new assistant is currently available in beta in English in the US, and it should add support for more languages later this month. However, Apple hasn’t shipped Siri AI in the EU yet due to DMA compliance concerns, and it’s not clear yet how its new smart home display and LG’s devices would work without the next-gen assistant.