Club Benefits
As expected, the all-new Siri AI and Apple Intelligence took up the bulk of the announcements during the WWDC 2026 keynote. From improved camera editing tools, better awareness of everything happening on your iPhone, and even a dedicated app, there's a lot to unpack as Apple plays catch-up with Google and Samsung.
As someone who covers smart home products a lot, one Apple Intelligence feature really stood out for me, and it's something that could make Apple Home far more attractive than Ring and Google Nest for those looking to purchase one of the best home security cameras or video doorbells for their house.
When the new-and-improved Apple Intelligence rolls out, those who use Apple Home Secure Video will now be able to get detailed video descriptions of what's happening in not just individual videos, but across all stored video.
In addition, you'll also be able to use natural language search to more easily look for specific events.
Also of note: You'll now be able to store 4K video; until now, HomeKit Secure Video has been limited to 1080p, a serious restriction.
What's notable is not the features themselves — Ring, Google, and plenty of other companies already offer AI-generated search results — but the price at which Apple is offering these features.
Apple iCloud vs. Google Home Premium vs. Ring Pro
If you want to use Apple Home Secure Video — and these new features — all you'll need is an iCloud+ account, which starts at $0.99 per month for 50GB of storage and one camera, $2.99/month for 200GB and up to five cameras, and $9.99/month for 2TB of storage and unlimited cameras. (Apple offers higher-capacity plans, but we'll set them aside for now).
So, if you want AI-assisted search functionality for your smart home cameras and video doorbells, you could get it for as little as $0.99/month. By comparison, if you wanted those same features from Ring or Google, you'd have to spend $20/month for Ring Pro and Google Home Premium Advanced.
Even if we were to factor in the unlimited camera angle, you'd still be paying half as much with Apple.
The two caveats
I should note two things here. The first is that Apple's iCloud+ storage is not just for security camera footage; it's used for everything else, so if your cameras are recording a lot of video, you might run out of room a lot faster for your iPhone backups.
The second caveat is that there are comparatively fewer cameras and doorbells that are compatible with Apple HomeKit Secure Video than with Ring and Google Nest. Apple's own page only lists six cameras and video doorbells that work with HomeKit Secure Video, though we've reviewed others, such as the EufyCam 2C Pro.
The fact that HomeKit Secure Video was, until now, limited to 1080p has also put a damper on our enthusiasm for it, but its upgrade to 4K — plus these new AI-assisted features for much less than the competition — make it a much more compelling option.
I'm also curious to see how Apple Intelligence compares to other security cameras with AI, when it comes to delivering actionable messages and more.
Apple is doing for AI security video what it did with the MacBook Neo: offering a very competitive product for a lower price than the competition. Now, we just need more cameras.
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