Buying Apple’s wall-mounted HomeView? The mount costs extra

The HomeView smart home display announced by Apple today comes in two models that both cost $299: one with a speaker base, and the other being a self explanatory “Wall Mounted” version. If you want the latter, however, you’ll actually have to pay at least $59 more — the mounts required to actually affix the display to your wall are sold separately. Maybe calling it the “Mountless” version would have been more accurate?

Apple isn’t exactly shouting about that sneaky additional premium for wall-mounted HomeView customers. The details are mentioned in the small print at the bottom of the product announcement page:

It also becomes apparent when you go through the process of adding the HomeView to your basket on Apple’s webstore. You’re asked to choose from the available mount options (which doesn’t include the Power Mount PoE Wired yet) which each bump up that $299 price, or select “No mount” to proceed with no extra charge — but Apple clearly states on this option that the “HomeView (Wall Mounted) requires a mount and power solution to operate.”

Given it doesn’t ship with a power source, you can’t have the wall model HomeView leaning against something or laying on a flat surface to evade the extra cost. You also can’t buy the desktop model that doesn’t have any additional requirements and keep the speaker base aside because it can’t be converted into the wall version. They’re two distinct versions, and the wall option only comes in two colors. Presumably some third-party manufacturers will release more affordable wall mount options in time, but either way, folks who want to wall mount their HomeView will pay a premium over those who opt for the desktop model.