UPDATED 18:20 EST / DECEMBER 22 2024

APPS

Apple reportedly eyes home security market with face-scanning smart doorbell

Apple Inc. is reportedly developing a number of smart home devices, including a previously unreported smart doorbell that could allow users to unlock their homes by scanning their faces.

The claims come from the usually reliable Apple analyst Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, who believes that Apple is planning a number of home-related announcements and updates through 2025.

Gurman’s list of Apple releases includes the company launching a small home hub with a roughly six-inch display and a new operating system built to control the home, run FaceTime and play video. Alongside a new smart home hub, Apple is also expected to roll out updates to its Apple TV set-top box and HomePad Mini smart speaker next year, with both expected to gain new wireless chips and better support for wirelessly linking products in the home.

None of that is particularly exciting, but what Apple reportedly plans next gets interesting.

According to Gurman, Apple is developing several related products, including an in-home security camera that’s designed to work with the hub. The cameras would compete with similar products from Google LLC, Logitech International SE and Amazon.com Inc.

Apple’s thinking about entering the security camera space is said to be driven by its “long-stated commitment to privacy” and the company’s belief that consumers will trust it more than rivals with in-house security footage. The security cameras would also require cloud backups, helping Apple sell additional subscriptions to iCloud.

Along with selling security cameras, Apple is also allegedly developing a smart doorbell with advanced facial features that wirelessly connects to a deadbolt lock. Users with the doorbell can gain entry by scanning their faces, similar to FaceID on iPhones.

Gurnan believes that the smart doorbell will work with existing third-party locks on the market that support Apple’s HomeKit protocol. It also has not ruled out that Apple may team up with a specific lock maker to offer a full system as well.

“In typical Apple style, the company would be entering a space that’s well established but still ripe for reinvention,” Gurman wrote. “A Face ID-enabled doorbell and lock system would probably give Amazon Ring and Google Nest some genuine competition.”

The smart doorbell may be some time off, however, with development still in its early stages. The product may not come to market before the end of the year, but Apple could surprise.

The claim that Apple is working on a smart doorbell and other home devices comes after a report on Dec. 15, also from Gurman, said Apple was working on a giant foldable iPad for a 2028 launch. The new iPad was described as “akin to a giant iPad that unfolds into the size of two iPad Pros side-by-side.”

According to Apple Track, Gurman gets Apple predictions correct 86.5% of the time, which means that he’s not right all the time, but he’s right enough often enough to listen to.

Image: SiliconANGLE/Ideogram

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