Apple is reportedly co-developing an LG doorbell, lock and thermostat for its smart home reboot

Apple’s long-awaited smart home relaunch won’t just be Apple hardware. According to Bloomberg, the company has been co-developing a range of home accessories with LG Electronics, including a wired video doorbell, a smart deadbolt lock and a thermostat, built to work with the smart home hub Apple is expected to unveil on 13 October.

The twist is the branding. The products will carry LG’s name rather than Apple’s, and LG will handle manufacturing and after-sales support. Per Bloomberg sources, Apple’s role has been to help shape the design, features, and engineering behind the scenes. Bloomberg describes LG as a “second-party” supplier, an arrangement that lets Apple quickly fill out its ecosystem without bearing the cost of building and supporting a full catalogue of accessories itself.

What LG has filed

So far, the evidence comes from regulatory paperwork rather than anything either company has said. LG has recently submitted the devices to the US Federal Communications Commission and to UL Solutions, a product certification firm. Bloomberg says those filings list seven products:

None of the filings mention Apple, and LG has asked for photos and more detailed specifications to stay confidential until early next year. That lines up with Bloomberg’s other key detail: the accessories aren’t expected to reach shoppers for at least a few more months, so they won’t be on shelves alongside whatever Apple launches next week.

Thread, Matter and a lock that knows you’re home

Several of the devices reportedly support Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Thread and Matter. That last one is the interesting bit. Matter is the cross-platform standard backed by Apple, Google, Amazon and Samsung, so in principle these accessories shouldn’t be locked to iPhone households, even if Apple had a hand in them.

The deadbolt also includes ultra-wideband (UWB), the same short-range radio tech Apple uses for precise AirTag finding. Bloomberg says it could let the lock unlock automatically as you approach the door, a feature that works best when the phone maker and the lock maker have been talking from the start.

Bloomberg frames the whole effort, as The Verge also highlights, as “a formal reboot of HomeKit”, the Apple smart home platform that has spent years leaning on third-party accessory makers with mixed results.

Where this fits in Apple’s plans

The LG range is one piece of a bigger push. Apple is widely expected to introduce a wall- or table-mounted smart home hub with a six-inch display and Siri, often called the HomePad, on 13 October, alongside a new Apple TV and a refreshed HomePod mini. Bloomberg has also reported that Apple is working on future home products, including a privacy-focused monitoring device, a hub with a screen on a robotic arm, and a home security monitoring service. That would sit alongside the separate Apple-made smart home camera that reportedly won’t record video.

For LG, this is a step into territory where it isn’t known for much. Its smart home ambitions have mostly centred on appliances and TVs, though it took a majority stake in the smart home platform Homey in 2024, as MacRumors points out. The two companies already have history: LG Display supplies Apple with screens, and LG built the UltraFine monitors Apple sold for Macs.

Neither Apple nor LG has confirmed the partnership, and there’s no word yet on pricing or which countries will get the accessories, including the UAE.