Apple’s Rumored $350 Home Hub: What the Leak Says, and Whether to Wait on an Echo Show

Last updated September 20, 2026

The Apple Home Hub is still a rumor, and the newest piece of it landed on September 20, when Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman wrote in his Power On newsletter that the device is being tested in Apple employees’ homes. The newsletter is paywalled, so I’m working from AppleInsider’s summary of the report. Apple hasn’t announced this product, so every spec below is Gurman’s reporting and could change.

What Is the Apple Home Hub?

According to Gurman, it’s a smart display for a kitchen counter or a wall, and Siri AI is the main way you’d use it.

MacRumors’ write-up of his July report describes a HomePod-like speaker joined to a 7-inch display, sold in a tabletop version and a wall-mounted one. It reportedly runs a new operating system based on tvOS, the software Apple TV runs, and the feature list includes FaceTime calls, HomeKit controls, home security monitoring, and music.

The September 20 newsletter adds that Siri would pull up information from across your devices and accounts, and that’s the same Siri AI I covered in the iOS 27 waitlist guide.

The Rumored Launch Window and the $350 Price

Gurman’s reporting puts the launch somewhere between October and early 2027, at around $350. Apple hasn’t given a date or a price.

The window comes from that July report, and the price is older. Engadget reported in October 2025 that Gurman had Apple targeting around $350, without saying which version that was for.

This device has slipped before. MacRumors reports that Apple first aimed for spring 2025, then spring 2026, then September, because Siri AI wasn’t ready.

How It Differs From an Echo Show or Nest Hub

On paper, the differences are the face recognition and how far Siri would reach into your Apple accounts.

Amazon’s Echo Show 8 and Google’s Nest Hub (2nd gen) are what it would compete with. The Google Store lists the Nest Hub at $99.99 today, so a $350 Apple Home Hub would cost about three and a half times as much.

What Gurman describes for the extra money is a screen that knows who walked up to it and shows that person’s information, with interface elements that change size as you get closer.

Should You Hold Off on Buying a Smart Display This Fall?

If your house already runs on iPhones and HomeKit and you’re in no hurry, the reported window is close enough that waiting costs you very little. If you need a display now, or your home runs on Alexa or Google Home, nothing in the leak changes that. The launch target has already moved three times, and Apple hasn’t confirmed any of this.

The Privacy Question With Face Recognition in a Kitchen

Gurman reports the hub identifies people by face so it can personalize the screen, and AppleInsider’s summary says it would do this without a Face ID-level depth sensor. Nothing in the reporting says where that face data gets processed or stored.

A kitchen is where your kids and whoever’s visiting walk past the screen. I’ve said on this site that I want AI products to be plain about what they do with data, so the question I’d want Apple to answer at launch is where the face matching happens, on the device or on a server, and where the face profiles live. The reporting doesn’t answer that yet.

FAQ: Apple Home Hub

I’ll update this post when Apple announces something or the reporting changes.

Related reading: How to get off the Siri AI waitlist | What the Google Assistant shutdown changes | Ring AI features in 2026 | New to AI? Start here