Apple's work to create its own networking chips will lead to updated and new home products, including an updated Apple TV 4K, HomePod mini, and more.
As AppleInsider has previously reported, the company has developed its own wireless networking chip, called Proxima, that would replace networking technology currently supplied by Broadcom. The chips will debut in updated home products across 2025.
In addition to connecting new and updated devices to an existing home network, the Proxima chip could potentially serve as a wireless access point itself, according to Bloomberg. The company plans to use the chip in both new and refreshed home devices, possibly including its own line of security cameras.
The chip will also be used in future iPhone and Mac models, but its potential Airport-like networking functions would be employed primarily for home products, including a reported smart lock doorbell that incorporates Face ID.
More home security and control
For years, Apple has supported leveraging iCloud to store video footage from compatible home security cameras via a feature called HomeKit Secure Video. The purpose of the feature was to save Apple users money by offering additional storage for home security video as part of their iCloud subscription, rather than having to pay expensive third-party hosting services.
Users who pay for the 200GB level of iCloud storage can store up to 10 days worth of encrypted security footage from up to five supported cameras without counting against their storage limit. Likewise, 2TB iCloud subscribers can store up to 10 days of recordings from an unlimited number of cameras.
A number of third-party home security cameras already support HomeKit Secure Video, and Apple may choose to release its own branded security cameras as soon as late 2025.
A long-rumored "smart home hub" control device, which is likely to be announced at the annual WWDC event in June 2025, is reportedly capable of being mounted to walls and providing summaries of information from at least some third-party devices. Apple plans to update its own home products to report to this hub.
In addition to the long-rumored home hub, Apple will add the new chip and other smart-home technologies to a refreshed Apple TV 4K set-top box, an updated HomePod mini, and other products. It plans to emphasize the encrypted video and general privacy of its smart-home products as a selling point and marked contrast to existing offerings from Google and Amazon.
