HomeView can dim its display to 0.3 nits, which Apple calls its lowest brightness ever and which makes the screen usable on a nightstand. At the other end, the 7-inch Liquid Retina display reaches 500 nits for a sunlit room.
The panel is an LED-backlit IPS display with a resolution of 1088 by 1088 pixels at 220 ppi, and it supports True Tone. HomeView costs $299 and ships on Friday, November 13, in both the countertop and wall-mounted versions, and the display specifications list one brightness range for the two models.
The display covers 500 nits in daylight and 0.3 nits at night
Automatic brightness adjusts continuously, so the screen stays vivid in a bright kitchen and drops to almost nothing in a dark bedroom. Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 previously set Apple’s floor at 1 nit, which makes the new minimum about a third as bright.
The screen measures 6.98 inches diagonally with rounded corners, and it has a fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating. An ambient light sensor drives the brightness changes, and HomeView also carries a temperature and humidity sensor and an accelerometer. It recognizes people by face, so each person’s Home Screen and widgets appear on the same dimmed display.
The interface changes with distance and the time of day
HomeView shows simpler information that is readable from across the room and richer detail as you step closer. Some faces change through the day as well, so they wake up with you in the morning and wind down at night.
The Photos face adds Portrait-style depth effects, and the Flow face responds to physical presence and movement as interactive art. A shared album can turn HomeView into a living photo frame that family members help fill, and the Home Camera face streams up to nine camera feeds at once on the same display.
The 12MP Center Stage camera keeps everyone framed during FaceTime calls even as people move around the room, and the display’s True Tone technology reacts to changing light throughout the day.
On the countertop model, a stainless steel hinge tilts the display, which changes the overall height between 5.38 and 6.82 inches. The wall-mounted version has the same 7-inch display, and it comes in Space Gray and Silver.
Alongside that camera, HomeView has four beamforming microphones, and Apple says the A18 chip’s Secure Exclaves process camera and microphone data in a compartment that the operating system cannot access. That matters for a device designed to sit on a nightstand.
HomeView costs $299 for either model and ships on Friday, November 13.
