Apple’s Smart Home Reset Adds LG-Made Locks, Doorbells, and Thermostats
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says Apple is planning a smart-home push that pairs a new hub and Apple-made devices with accessories developed with LG Electronics, including a doorbell, lock and thermostat. He describes the LG partnership as unusual because LG has not made smart-home products before, and says the accessories would give households familiar starting points for building an Apple-connected home.
Apple’s home reset includes a starter kit, not just new hubs
Mark Gurman says Apple’s home strategy is being rebuilt around both new Apple-made devices and a broader set of accessories. The planned flagship products include a new HomePod mini, a display-equipped smart-home hub comparable to an Amazon Echo Show, and a new Apple TV. Beyond those, Gurman describes a “smart home starter kit”: a smart lock, thermostat, doorbell, and security cameras for inside and outside the home, with a floodlight camera as a possible addition. The accessories are expected to work with Apple’s new hub.
The distinction matters to the shape of the plan. Apple’s home offering would not consist only of devices it makes itself; the proposed starter kit would extend it into familiar household categories through products made with LG. Gurman says he has reported on Apple’s in-house smart-home devices for years, but the LG products were an additional part of the strategy that he revealed separately.
Gurman says he searched the FCC database and found LG-branded devices in the process of receiving US regulatory approval. A diagram shown during the report depicts two oval-shaped devices with internal battery compartments. Its visible labels include “LG Smart Doorbell” and “Lock UL Listed.”
HomeKit’s history helps explain why Gurman describes the wider plan as a reset. He says the system launched in 2014 and has been an “unmitigated disaster” compared with offerings from Ring, Google, and others. His characterization is blunt: Apple is “starting over.” The hub and Apple-made devices would be part of that reboot, while the proposed LG-branded accessories would fill out the kinds of products a household might want when beginning a smart-home setup.
The partner is unusual because it is entering a new category
Ed Ludlow asks how unusual it is for Apple to work with another company on home devices, and why a lock, doorbell, and thermostat fit Apple’s plans. Gurman calls the arrangement “extremely unusual,” but not unprecedented. He says Apple has previously built devices with Belkin under the Belkin brand and worked with Logitech on iPad accessories sold under Logitech’s name.
For Gurman, the difference is that those companies already had experience in the relevant product areas: Belkin had made iPhone accessories for years, and Logitech had made iPad accessories. LG, he says, does not make smart-home devices, home cameras, doorbells, or locks. He calls the choice “completely out of left field and completely random.”
This is new territory completely for LG.
Gurman also points to connections between Apple and the broader LG group. He says LG Display makes screens for Apple devices and another part of the conglomerate makes camera modules. He presents those existing relationships alongside LG Electronics’ reported move into product categories it has not made before.
The case for the products starts with what households buy first
Gurman says consumers building a smart home are likely to begin with a doorbell, a lock, and a thermostat. That is his explanation for why Apple is pursuing those products: they are the kinds of devices a consumer might start with when setting up a home.
He says the devices look “pretty nice.” The broader plan he describes pairs Apple’s new hub and first-party devices with LG-branded products for everyday home categories. The partnership brings together a familiar arrangement—products made with another company and sold under that company’s brand—with a partner Gurman considers an unexpected fit.