Apple’s HomeView is my new favorite smart display — but not my daughter’s

<figure> <img alt="A hand reaching out to touch a display with home control tiles on a white kitchen counter." data-caption="Apple’s first smart display is finally here. And it’s good. | Photo: Hunter McRae for The Verge" data-portal-copyright="Photo: Hunter McRae for The Verge" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/11/268864_Smart_home_photos_HMCRAE74.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption> Apple’s first smart display is finally here. And it’s good. | Photo: Hunter McRae for The Verge </figcaption> </figure> <p class="has-drop-cap wp-block-paragraph">The HomeView nails everything I want from a smart display. It's superb at controlling my smart home; it's an excellent hands-free kitchen companion, a good speaker, and a gorgeous digital photo frame. It's also the first Apple smart speaker with Siri AI, which is an improvement, if still slow at times. But Apple has fallen into the trap that hampers other smart displays I've tested: not content with doing its core functions well, it tries to do more, and that's where the friction creeps in.<br>. </p> <figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote><p>HomeView is both a smart display everyone in your home can use <em>and</em> an extension of your iPhone</p></blockquote></figure> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">The special Apple sauce here is that HomeView is both …</p> <p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/tech/1031726/apple-homeview-review-smart-display-homekit">Read the full story at The Verge.</a></p>