According to Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, Apple is working on a new smart home doorbell, to compete with the likes of Ring. It’d offer “advanced facial recognition”, and integrate wirelessly with smart home locks.
Apple already offers many third party HomeKit locks on its online store, but doorbells with facial recognition would be a new venture. Gurman reports that the doorbell will be able to automatically unlock your home by just scanning your face:
The idea is that the doorbell could automatically unlock the door for a home’s residents by scanning their face — just like Face ID lets them into their iPhone.
This doorbell will potentially be able to integrate with many of the third party HomeKit locks on the market, although that isn’t quite clear. Gurman says Apple may partner with one specific lock maker, and instead just offer a complete package with one purchase.
This smart home doorbell is still in early stages, and won’t come to the market “before the end of next year at the soonest,” according to the report. This doorbell will also take advantage of Apple’s new in-house networking chip.
Apple is expected to expand its reach in the smart home market significantly next year, with the release of a new smart home control device, which can reportedly attach to your walls and potentially a speaker base. Think of it as a Google Nest Hub of sorts. We’ll also be getting a refresh to the Apple TV and HomePod mini next year, as part of these efforts.
Gurman also mentions that Apple may choose to release this product under its own brand, because of the risk of being associated with potential break ins and robberies. If Apple goes this way, they could release the doorbell technology under a close partner such as Belkin.
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