Apple product launch announced for October 13: “Welcome Home”

Apple today announced an upcoming product launch that will take place on Tuesday, October 13. We expect Apple’s announcement to focus on new smart home products, including the long-rumored Smart Home Hub, a new Apple TV 4K, and a refreshed HomePod mini.

The Home Hub is a brand new device that looks like a cross between an iPad and a HomePod. It is rumored to have a 6-inch square screen and is designed as a multi-person device for controlling smart home products, making FaceTime calls, watching videos, getting news and weather information, staying on top of calendar events, and more. It will integrate with Siri AI and voice will be the primary method of interaction.

Apple plans to install a hub in several rooms of the house. There will be a version intended to be wall mounted and a version with a half-dome speaker base, similar in design to the iMac G4. A camera and presence sensor will detect the presence of a person in the room, and the device will be able to tell who it is to display a personalized interface with widgets and applications. The price could be around $350.

The ‌HomePod mini‌ will get new colors, an N1 network chip for improved Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and a faster S-series processor that will support ‌Siri‌ AI. The ‌Apple TV‌ 4K will get an A19 or A19 Pro chip, a RAM upgrade, the same N1 chip as the ‌HomePod mini‌, and an improved ‌Siri‌ remote.

An OLED iPad mini is in development and it could arrive at the home event. The ‌iPad mini‌ is expected to be more water resistant with a faster chip and the first ‌OLED‌ screen in a smaller tablet size.

The timing of the product’s October 13 launch is unknown, and it’s also unclear if there will be an event element or if the devices will debut via a press release. Select members of the media have been invited to an “Apple Experience” taking place in Tribeca, New York on October 13 at 9:00 a.m. Attendees will likely have some hands-on time with new products introduced by Apple.

Rumors suggest that Apple is planning multiple Macs before the end of the year, but these could be introduced later in the year rather than at the home product launch.