Apple’s ‘Welcome home’ launch announced, more

0:00Welcome to 9.5 Mac Daily for Friday, October 9, 2026. I'm your host, Chance Miller. We are sponsored this week by Stuff and by RoboRock. Leading off today, Apple officially announced a special event happening next Tuesday, October 13th with the tagline Welcome Home. This of course is a clear reference to Apple's impending plans to launch multiple new smart home products. Apple's marketing VP Greg Jaws, we asked posted a short video teasing the upcoming festivities on social media, while Apple also invited members of the press to a launch event of some sorts in New York City on that day. As we've talked about extensively, Apple has expected to launch three new home products during the event, including a new Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini, both of which are expected to support Siri AI alongside the rumored HomePod Smart Display product.

1:01It still remains a little bit unclear what exact format this announcement from Apple will take. The company is clearly hyping it up as some sort of launch event, and those members of the press who will be in attendance in New York City will likely get hands on time with these new products. Whether or not Apple has a full-fledged keynote video that it posts online remains to be seen, it could just be a trio of press releases announcing the new products accompanied by shorter videos for each individual one. Another thing we expect from Apple next week is an announcement of its co-branded smart home accessories with LG. We talked about these earlier this week, with a report revealing that Apple was working with LG on smart home products, including a smart thermostat, smart camera, and smart lock. As it turns out, this quote-unquote second-party smart home strategy from Apple could be a bit bigger than we thought. In addition to the accessories co-built by Apple and LG, which will ship under LG branding,

2:01there are two additional home accessories designated as second-party products. Those accessories are a Schneider branded smart thermostat and a Schneider branded temperature and humidity sensor. Despite Apple's code, all of these new products have been referred to as second-party accessories, and by being categorized as second-party, they will receive special treatment by Apple's software, at least in comparison to normal third-party smart home accessories. It still remains a bit unclear what exact special treatment these accessories from LG and Schneider will get, but we're expecting at least top-of-the-line integration with Apple's smart home platform, including hopefully ultra-wide band support with Homekey and adaptive temperature for the thermostats. We should learn more about all of these new products and Apple's new smart home initiatives during next week's Welcome Home event on October 13th. We are sponsored this week by Stuff, the clean and powerful to-do list app that makes organizing

3:03long list effortless, checking off tasks, satisfying, and tracking your progress simple. Stuff is a to-do app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac where you can create tasks by typing, talking, or using your camera. It supports shared lists, drag-and-drop, dependencies, customizations, and more. And there's a specific feeling to an app built by someone who made it for themselves. The animations are just right, the widgets are functional, it feels like magic, and that app is Stuff. Stuff has been featured by Apple, the Verge, and the Hyrule Report when you finish this episode search Stuff on the App Store. Get more stuff done with Stuff. My thanks again to Stuff for sponsoring. Next up today, Apple has reportedly cut orders for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Macs due to soft demand. A new report from Nikes Asia says that Apple has told select suppliers to cut component production for the devices, as price increases allegedly dampened consumer demand.

4:05The story site's multiple people familiar with the matter, and claims that Apple has turned more conservative on shipments since early September. Two of those sources claim that component orders for October have been cut by at least 15% compared to what Apple originally requested. The story site's another anonymous supply chain manager who said that demand is not as strong as previous years, when all the new models were introduced altogether. This of course refers to Apple not releasing the base iPhone 18 until next spring. Still, the suppliers say that this alone doesn't account for the lower demand. Another source added that suppliers are bracing for Apple to cut production of the iPhone Duo after its released due to similar concerns about demand due to the high price. Apple increased prices for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Macs by $100 compared to their predecessors. So while hampering demand, this also means that the impact of that lower demand won't

5:05immediately translate to lower revenue for Apple because of those higher prices. Again, it's important to keep in mind that these are supply chain sources, not people inside Apple itself. Apple will report its fiscal Q4 2026 earnings on Monday, November 6th, which will provide an official look at the first several weeks of iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Macs demand. Starting out today, Apple may have already announced its welcome home special event for next week, but the fun isn't going to stop there. Bloomberg now reports that Apple is set to launch its first touch screen MacBook Pro, a new iPad Mini, and more on or around Tuesday, October 27th. So exactly two weeks after the welcome home smartphone event. The report says that this launch will include an online video presentation and an in-person component for the press. Bloomberg explains the launch will be geared towards creative professionals who work in video production, photo editing, and music production.

6:06The report likened to Apple's launch of New Macs in October 2024, which included press releases and hands on time for select members of the press and Los Angeles. Among the new products on the docket for the late October launch are new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with OLED displays and touch screens. The new MacBook Pro models will also have a dynamic island for the first time and will be significantly lighter than the current models. They're expected to be powered by the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. Bloomberg also says a new iPad Mini with an OLED screen, a relocated FaceTime camera, and a revamped speaker system, is slated for an October 27th launch, as well as new iMac and entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro models powered by the M6 chip, which will look like their current versions. So as is becoming clear, Apple has a ton of new products on the schedule for this month and what could be Apple's busiest October ever.

7:07That wraps up another episode and another week of 9-5 Mac daily. As always, if you like the show, it is very helpful to us if you head to Apple Podcasts and leave a rating and a review. You can find an ad-free version of the show at 9-5Mac.com's last join for $5 a month or $50 a year. Keep up with all the latest Apple news on 9-5 Mac.com, follow along with me on threads at Chance H. Miller, and we'll be back on Monday for a new week of Apple News. 9-5 Mac this week is brought to you by RoboRock. Fall Prime Day is here and you can save up to $1,600 on RoboRock's smart cleaning machines. For a true hands-off clean, check out the Sorrow's 20. RoboRock's 20.26 flagship with more than 36,000 passcals of suction, intelligent optical avoidance, and a fully automated dock that handles dust, water, and mop cleaning. For busy homes, the Qrevo Edge 3 Pro climbs thresholds and gets under furniture as low

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