Apple has announced Home Collection, comprising 9 products made by LG and Schneider Electric. Sales are scheduled to begin in the US, UK and Canada in December, but pricing and launch dates for Japan have not been decided, and no information has been released on whether the products will be available in Japan.
Apple has announced Apple Home Collection, a range of smart home devices developed jointly with LG and Schneider Electric. The 9 products comprise a doorbell, a lock, 3 types of camera, a thermostat and temperature-and-humidity sensors, consisting of 7 LG products and 2 Schneider Electric products.
The 9 products will be sold in the US, Canada and the UK, with all prices listed in US dollars. No information is provided for Japan, and launch dates and prices in Japan have not been decided. Sales will begin sequentially from December, although some products are expected to be delayed until early 2027.
There are 4 cameras. The indoor camera can detect when family members return home and automatically adjust its orientation, while the outdoor camera turns on a floodlight when it detects movement. Recordings are stored on iCloud+ for 10 days, with the number of cameras determined by the storage plan. Processing is handled by hubs such as HomeView and HomePod, while video is processed on home devices or through Private Cloud Compute rather than in the cloud.
From Japan's perspective, a key reason that the launch of some of the 9 products, including the lock and thermostat, has not been decided for Japan is that they are intended for the US and Canada. At the same time, there remains a path to using the same recording framework as cameras compatible with HomeKit Secure Video, which is already available in Japan. The introduction of the cameras in Japan is likely to be the most realistic focus.