Apple has announced that HomeView, its new smart home hub with a 7-inch display, will not be sold in the European Union. The reason is stated in a footnote of the official announcement: Siri AI is currently unavailable in iOS in the EU, and the device is built around that assistant.
The news is not entirely surprising. Since June the new Siri has been blocked on iPhone and iPad in the Union because of the Digital Markets Act, and Apple has already said that the proposals it submitted to regulators were rejected. On Mac, however, the assistant is already available to European users, and the timing for iPhone remains uncertain, with Mark Gurman pointing to five months as the best-case scenario. The same limitation appears on the product pages for the HomePod mini 2 and the fourth-generation Apple TV 4K, which note that Siri AI will not initially be available in the EU on iOS or iPadOS.
According to the product page, HomeView costs $299 in the United States, and pre-orders are open today in Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, the UK and the US. In Singapore pre-orders start Thursday, October 15, at 9 a.m. In South Africa the device will be sold through Apple Authorized Resellers. Deliveries start Friday, November 13, in eight countries.
Apple says it is "working constructively with the EU in an attempt to find a path forward", but has given no date for availability in the Union. Macworld notes that the entire HomeView range will remain unavailable in the EU for the foreseeable future.
A lineup that depends on the assistant
The case is broader than the hub alone. The home accessories developed with LG will integrate with this ecosystem, and Apple's whole smart home push is built around Siri AI. For people in Europe, the new home lineup therefore remains largely out of reach until the regulatory dispute is resolved.
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