Apple is reportedly joining hands with LG Electronics to co-develop home devices such as video doorbells, smart door locks, and thermostats as part of a renewed push into the smart home market. Instead of manufacturing all devices itself, Apple is leveraging LG’s manufacturing and product support capabilities to rapidly expand its smart home ecosystem.

Bloomberg News reported on the 6th (local time), citing multiple sources, that Apple and LG Electronics are jointly developing accessories that will integrate with Apple’s new smart home system.

The jointly developed products include a video doorbell, smart deadbolt door lock, indoor and outdoor security cameras, floodlight camera, smart thermostat, and temperature sensor.

Apple is involved in product development, but the devices are expected to be sold under the “LG” brand rather than Apple’s. LG Electronics will also handle manufacturing and product support. Apple and LG Electronics did not respond to Bloomberg’s requests for comment.

● Why Apple builds the products but uses the ‘LG’ name

The key feature of this partnership is that Apple can expand its smart home ecosystem without increasing the range of products it must sell and support directly, even while being involved in product development.

Apple has previously used a similar approach by co-developing products with external companies such as Belkin and Logitech and then selling them under those companies’ brands. In this structure, Apple is involved in design, functionality, and engineering, while its partners assume the burden of production and customer support.

The smart home devices now being developed with LG are said to be following a similar model. Apple is involved in defining functions and design in line with its smart home system, while LG Electronics is responsible for manufacturing and product support.

The development schedule for LG’s products lags behind Apple’s own smart home devices currently in preparation. Actual sales are expected to take several more months.

The existence of the products has also been confirmed in documents that LG Electronics recently submitted to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and certification body UL Solutions.

The registered products include a wired video doorbell, floodlight camera, indoor and outdoor cameras, smart door lock, smart thermostat, and temperature sensor.

LG Electronics has requested that some product images and detailed information remain confidential until early next year. The certification documents do not mention joint development with Apple.

● Door opens as you approach… Equipped with Matter, Thread, and UWB

Many of the products LG is developing support not only Wi-Fi and Bluetooth but also Thread and Matter, communication standards for smart homes.

Matter is a common smart home standard backed by major information technology (IT) companies including Apple, Google, and Amazon. It focuses on enabling devices from different manufacturers to be connected and used within a single smart home environment.

The smart door lock will also feature ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless communication. UWB can precisely determine distance and location between devices and can be used for functions such as automatically unlocking the door when a user carrying a device approaches the entrance.

LG’s products are expected to operate around Apple’s new smart home hub. According to Bloomberg, Apple plans to unveil the smart home hub on the 13th, along with an upgraded HomePod mini and a new TV set-top box.

However, the doorbell, door lock, and cameras developed by LG will not be launched on the same day. As development of these products is behind Apple’s own devices, their consumer release is also expected to be delayed.

● Twelve years after HomeKit launch… Apple challenges Amazon and Google again

These products represent one part of Apple’s renewed push in the smart home market.

Apple introduced its smart home platform “HomeKit” in 2014, but has not achieved the same level of influence in the smart home device market as Amazon and Google.

Amazon, with “Ring,” and Google, with “Nest,” have already built product lines that connect the inside and outside of the home, including doorbells, security cameras, and thermostats. Many of the products Apple and LG are developing will compete directly in these segments.

Apple plans to rebuild its smart home business around the new smart home hub and an enhanced version of its voice assistant Siri, with strengthened artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.

According to Bloomberg, Apple is also preparing home monitoring devices with stronger privacy features, a smart home hub with a display attached to a robotic arm, and a home security monitoring service.

For LG Electronics, the partnership is an opportunity to broaden the scope of its smart home business. Beyond TVs and home appliances, it will be able to secure a product portfolio that connects the inside and outside of the home, including doorbells, door locks, security cameras, and thermostats.

Bloomberg reported that the indoor camera will be LG’s first such product in about 10 years. Outdoor cameras, thermostats, floodlight cameras, and video doorbells have also been rare in LG’s recent lineup. The smart door lock is expected to be the first such product to be sold in earnest outside Korea.

The scope of cooperation between Apple and LG is also expanding. Although the two companies once competed in the smartphone market, LG Display now supplies displays for Apple products, and Apple’s content and services are available on LG Electronics TVs. During the period when Apple suspended sales of external monitors, it also jointly developed a monitor with LG that connected to Apple laptops.

This time, the stage for cooperation has shifted to the smart home. Apple can rapidly increase the number of devices connected to its ecosystem without manufacturing every product itself, while LG can bring new smart home product lines such as doorbells, door locks, and security cameras to the global market.

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