Apple is redesigning its retail stores this fall to make room for a wave of new home products, including the long-anticipated smart home hub with a built-in display that has been delayed for years waiting for Siri AI to mature. The company is preparing significant changes to the Avenues sections of its stores, the perimeter walls that showcase accessories like HomePods, Apple TVs, AirPods, and Beats products. Apple plans to rearrange existing Avenues market and add new accessory bays specifically designed to demonstrate fresh devices. The scale of these modifications suggests something far larger than routine refreshes to existing product lines.
Why Retail market Matters for a New Product Category
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the retail changes suggest that Apple’s smart home hub with a 7-inch display is arriving this fall or early 2026. That device represents an entirely new product category for Apple, complete with its own operating system based on tvOS blended with watchOS and iOS. Unlike an iPhone or Mac, a home hub requires hands-on demonstration to help customers understand its purpose, capabilities, and integration with existing HomeKit accessories. Apple retail stores today simply don’t have adequate market or layout for that kind of introduction. The planned store modifications, dedicated display bays, rearranged wall sections, trained staff ready to demonstrate a novel interface, are the infrastructure required to sell a product category that most customers have never encountered before.
New Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini Ship This Fall
A refreshed Apple TV 4K and updated HomePod mini are nearly ready to ship and should arrive this fall, likely September or October. Both devices is expected to support Siri AI and feature faster processors than their predecessors, finally giving them the local compute headroom to run Apple Intelligence features. The new Apple TV 4K is expected to use an A17 Pro chip (the same processor in iPhone 15 Pro models) paired with Apple’s N1 wireless chip, bringing Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread support. The HomePod mini, unchanged since October 2020, will likely use an updated Apple Watch S9 chip or newer variant, add new color options, include the N1 wireless module, and receive audio improvements. The real upgrade for both devices is Siri AI compatibility; without it, the hardware refreshes would be incremental at best.
What the Smart Home Hub Will Do
The home hub combines a HomePod-style speaker with a 7-inch square display and will be available in two configurations: a tabletop version with a built-in speaker, and a wall-mounted variant with magnets on the rear. The device is expected to include built-in facial recognition to identify household members and display personalized information, and interface elements will resize as users approach or move away from the display. Feature set includes:
- FaceTime video calls and multi-device intercom system
- Home security monitoring and HomeKit accessory management
- Photo galleries, calendar display, and music playback
- Siri AI: designed to understand natural speech commands and manage the broader home ecosystem
Apple reportedly believes customers will purchase multiple hubs for different rooms, such as the kitchen, living room, or bedroom. The device is expected to cost around $350.
Apple has been working on expanded home products for years but repeatedly postponed launches because they were contingent on Siri AI maturity. With Siri AI now rolling out in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, and visionOS 27 in September, the dependency has finally lifted. The HomePod mini was introduced in October 2020; the Apple TV 4K hasn’t received a meaningful update since October 2022. This timeline establishes when HomeKit can finally begin competing on equal footing with Google Home and Amazon’s Alexa ecosystem. HomeKit remains fundamentally limited compared to AI-powered smart home systems from larger players, and the combination of Siri AI, a hub with a display, and updated accessories is Apple’s attempt to close that gap.
Apple’s In-Home Security Camera Could Follow
Apple is also working on an advanced in-home security camera intended to compete with Ring products. HomeKit Secure Video is gaining several upgrades in iOS 27, including 4K recording, AI-generated summaries, and the ability to track a single event across multiple cameras. Those enhancements suggest Apple may launch its own camera this year or next, making use of infrastructure it is simultaneously building into iOS and the new home hub. The retail redesign is Apple’s clearest signal yet that the smart home hub is no longer theoretical. Stores need physical market and trained staff ready by the fall launch window, which means the design and manufacturing are locked in. For the first time in years, Apple’s home strategy has actual momentum behind it.
