Apple Home Collection cameras: No camera subscription but you still pay iCloud+

There is one sentence that Apple wants you to recall regarding its new smart cameras and door locks. No additional camera subscription. This is a nice marketing play by Cupertino and seems like a true statement at first sight. Next, you read Apple’s own footnotes. The footage history, Apple Intelligence summary, and natural language search work with iCloud+, and your choice of the plan determines the number of cameras protected. One camera is included in the 50GB plan, five in 200GB, and unlimited in 2TB. Hence, the subscription has not disappeared but has simply relocated, taking a number of cameras along.

Survey

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Same bill, new address

Apple Home Collection features four cameras manufactured by LG. The Video Doorbell, Floodlight Cam, Outdoor Cam, and Indoor Cam record videos in 2.5K and identify people, familiar faces, animals, cars and packages. The video doorbell features two cameras, one for visitors and one for packages. The event history lasts ten days. In case of one video doorbell, the offer is a reasonable one. No one would complain about that.

Apple counts cameras, not gigabytes. A 50GB plan with sufficient amounts of storage space ends after one camera. So let us create an ordinary configuration. The video doorbell at the entrance, the floodlight camera on one side, the outdoor camera at the rear, and the indoor camera in the hallway – this way we get four cameras and are forced to choose the 200GB plan. Over five cameras we require 2 TB of storage. Taking into account US initial prices, the price of hardware alone is $1,149.80.

The smart features are rationed

Some Apple Intelligence functions within the Home app, such as video summaries, are only available for a limited number of cameras based on your iCloud+ subscription plan. Take note of that twice. You can purchase four cameras but enjoy smart functionalities on fewer cameras. Apple adds that the list of compatible cameras can be updated in the future, meaning what is available now does not automatically mean a guarantee in the future.

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The HomeKit-based product provides you more value than the monthly cost other brands ask for their cloud videos. According to Apple, the service end-to-end encrypts the videos and processes it locally through your own hub or Private Cloud Compute. In-built storage lets your cameras continue recording even if your Wi-Fi goes down. That is all true benefits. However, you still need a home hub, which means another purchase.

Who collects the money

LG provides the physical product while Apple earns from the ongoing income. Add another camera to the device and you will be paying for an increased iCloud package which falls under Apple’s Services revenue stream. The most affordable camera, the Indoor Cam, costs $199.95, making the storage the never-ending element in your monthly payments. It is a subscription service presented as a new feature. But this business move is very smart since all your footage history will be stored in iCloud, and leaving the ecosystem equals losing the video clips.

For now, let us wait. Apple announces these cameras for the US, Canada, and the UK with availability starting in December, but there is no mention of India yet. Prices are given only in dollars. If the cameras reach this country, remember to calculate how many cameras fit in your existing iCloud package.

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Vyom Ramani

A journalist with a soft spot for tech, games, and things that go beep. While waiting for a delayed metro or rebooting his brain, you’ll find him solving Rubik’s Cubes, bingeing F1, or hunting for the next great snack. View Full Profile