Apple Home is getting a new doorbell, cameras, and smart lock — but Apple isn’t making them

The Apple Home Collection is a new set of smart-home devices made by LG Electronics and Schneider Electric The new devices have been designed in partnership with Apple The smart locks, video doorbell, and sensors, among other devices, are designed to work seamlessly with Apple Home While there are lots of smart-home of gadgets that work with Apple Home — or HomeKit, as it was once called — Apple has never really taken the next step of designing and building its own devices, like doorbells, sensors, thermostats, and locks.

That’s still the case, but alongside unveiling the Apple HomeView smart display, with features that clearly make it a smart home hub, the tech giant is also moving into the smart-home device space, in collaboration with partner brands.

Rather than simply certifying devices for Apple Home — and those options aren’t going away — Apple has been working with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric to design and build several devices that will serve as a new flagship standard for gadgets in Apple's ecosystem.

They'll start shipping in December.

The new doorbell, indoor and outdoor cameras, thermostats, and various sensors represent a set of gadgets that not only work seamlessly with Apple’s home hubs — Apple TV 4K, HomePod, HomePod mini, and the new HomeView — but also integrate with the broader Apple Home ecosystem, allowing Siri to be central to controlling them.

All these new devices look and feel modern and well-made.

Take LG Electronics’ Video Doorbell, for example: it’s a wired option priced at $249 in the US and £229 in the UK.

It’s a sleek, matte-silver cylinder with a classic doorbell button, microphones, a speaker, and two cameras.

One camera faces outward to give you a view of who’s at your door or what’s happening on the street, while the other faces downward, so that you can see whether a package has been dropped off.

There's also an LG Door Lock, which will work in the United States and Canada, and conforms to the deadbolt lock standard in North America.

This is priced at $199.

Like the recently launched Ring Smart Lock, it supports UWB — ultra-wideband — and Apple Home Key, so as you approach the door with your iPhone or Apple Watch, it can sense your arrival and automatically unlock the door.

You can also enter a code using the keypad, or slide the panel to the side to use a physical key. (Image credit: Apple) Another potentially over-engineered, but pretty sleek, option is LG’s Indoor Camera.

This cylindrical camera sits in a mini drum connected to an arm, and when you set it not to be in use — such as when you arrive home, or according to a schedule — it swivels downward so the lens faces the floor.