Smart Home Apple Prepares Seven Devices With LG for Launch

Apple is developing seven smart home devices with LG, using an existing hardware supply relationship to widen its physical home-security push against Amazon and Google.

Key Takeaways

Apple is developing seven smart home devices with LG, including a doorbell, deadbolt lock, thermostat and three camera categories
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported Tuesday that the devices are designed to compete with Amazon and Google hardware
LG supplies OLED display panels for Apple’s iPhone and Apple Watch lines
Apple and LG have not confirmed the plan, and pricing, release windows and ship dates remain unclear

The products include a doorbell, a deadbolt lock, a thermostat and three categories of cameras.

They are designed to compete directly with Amazon and Google hardware already installed in millions of homes, according to a report on Tuesday.

The report did not disclose a launch date or pricing for any of the seven devices.

The LG arrangement is unusual for Apple, which has historically built its own hardware rather than co-developing devices with an external consumer electronics maker.

LG supplies OLED display panels used in Apple’s iPhone and Apple Watch lines, giving the companies an existing manufacturing relationship that could extend into smart home sensors and camera modules. Building devices alongside LG could let Apple move faster than developing camera sensors and lock mechanisms from scratch on its own.

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Smart home hardware, internet-connected doorbells, locks, thermostats and cameras that let owners monitor and control a home remotely through an app, has been dominated by Amazon’s Ring and Google’s Nest since both companies acquired startups in the category roughly a decade ago.

Apple’s HomeKit software framework already lets third-party devices connect to the iPhone’s Home app, but Apple itself sells only a limited home hardware catalog built around the HomePod speaker and Apple TV box.

A seven-device push would be Apple’s broadest hardware expansion into physical home security since HomeKit launched in 2014.

The company has leaned on software integration rather than owning the hardware stack in this category, a strategy that has left Ring and Nest with a durable installed-base advantage.

Open questions remain about pricing, release windows and whether the cameras will support third-party video storage. Neither Apple nor LG has confirmed the plan directly, and the timeline for any ship date stays unclear until one of the two companies comments.