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Apple's LG-branded lock and thermostat are expected to ship after its new HomePod and Apple TV
Apple co-developed seven LG-branded home accessories, Bloomberg reported, and leaked renders now show three of them: a lock, a thermostat and a sensor. Their settings screens are now the feature list that rival Apple Home locks and thermostats will be measured against.
The Product Desk
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What happened
- The LG devices will reportedly integrate with a rumored Apple smart home hub that is expected to launch on October 13.
- Mark Gurman has suggested the LG products will not be ready to ship as early as Apple's new HomePod and Apple TV.
- Apple's own lineup for next week is rumored to include a new Apple TV 4K, a HomePod mini and a new product category that 9to5Mac calls HomePad.
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Why it matters
- decision Anyone replacing a lock or thermostat this month has to choose between a current Apple Home model and an LG one with no published price or date.
- exposure Makers already selling Apple Home locks and thermostats, including the Aqara models 9to5Mac recommends, are now up against hardware Apple helped design.
- constraint Doorbell and camera makers have the least to plan against, because four of the seven reported LG products have not appeared in any leak.
A thermostat that reads warmer than the room it sits in is the problem behind one line in the leaked LG settings: "calibrated temperature/temperature offset" [12]. The setting lets an owner correct the reading. LG also handles the problem with a second device, a sensor that measures temperature and humidity and sends readings from other rooms back to the thermostat [13]. The sensor mounts with a magnetic back or an adhesive metal plate, and its replaceable battery sends an alert when it needs a swap [14].
The lock's settings describe the owners its designers expect. One is a "Door Left Audio Alarm," listed next to controls for "Touchpad Light Ring" and "Lock Sound Volume" [4]. The feature list adds an alarm for a door left open or unlocked, plus emergency power [5]. Behind the access codes and remote unlocking sit two mechanical keys as a backup [6]. The keypad rotates to open, and the design adjusts so the rotating parts do not hit a nearby wall [7].
Apple's own boxes are expected to get next week's stage time [3]. The hardware that goes on a front door or a hallway wall will carry LG's name [1]. Even so, 9to5Mac wrote that there's "a very good chance they'll still be mentioned by Apple during next week's announcements" [17]. Pricing and availability have not been published [10].
For a team building on Apple Home, two questions sort the planning into four cells. The first is whether your product sits in one of the seven categories LG is reported to be entering [8]. The second is whether a customer can buy it today. If you are in one of those categories and already on shelves, the weeks between Apple's hub launch and LG's ship date are a sales window, and nobody knows yet how long it is. If you are in a category and still in development, you will launch into a market where Apple has already picked a hardware partner [1]. If you are outside the categories and on shelves, the hub date is the one to test against. Outside the categories and still in development, the hub's own specifications come first.
I'd run integration tests against the hub on its expected date and hold any launch timing tied to LG until Apple or LG posts a price. The trade-off is that October 13 is itself a rumored date for the hub [9], so the hub plan can move too.
What to watch
- A published price and ship date for the LG lock, thermostat and sensor, from either Apple or LG.
- Whether the LG devices require Apple's new hub or also work with an existing Apple Home setup.