Apple Pivots To AI-Powered Smart Home

Plus: Samsung unveils 115-inch Micro RGB TV for premium homes

Author

Avinash Duggempudi
August 20, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Home Living

Here's what's happening this week in the world of home living eCommerce:
- Apple readies AI companions to own the home interface.
- Instant Pot goes small, targeting cramped kitchens and margins.
- Samsung’s 115-inch Micro RGB TV raises luxury stakes.
- Dehumidifier rankings push energy-efficient, low-maintenance picks.
- Yamazaki organizers validate minimalist, vertical storage demand.

💸 The $200B Miscalculation Marketers Can’t Afford

On stage at eTail Boston, Fospha’s Chief Product Officer, Dom Devlin, warned that retail’s reliance on last-click metrics is outdated, and it’s costing brands $200 billion in under-credited sales.

The missed connection is clear: shoppers often discover on TikTok, Meta, or Snap, but complete their purchase on Amazon, Walmart, or Target. Traditional attribution frameworks rarely connect those dots. As a result, channels that spark demand are stripped of credit, while budgets overweight the “closers” - whether or not they truly created the sale.

Dom called this the bottom-of-funnel trap: over-investing in channels that finish the purchase while underfunding those that generate demand. The fallout is higher acquisition costs and shrinking pipelines of future customers.

Fospha’s Halo platform was built to break that cycle. By integrating marketplace and DTC sales into one unified ROAS, it captures the full impact of discovery spend across the funnel. For brands like Nécessaire and Give Me Cosmetics, that visibility has unlocked the confidence to double down on demand generation while protecting profitability.

📥Download Fospha’s Halo Report to see how leaders are funding growth where it really starts.

📌WEEKLY MUST-KNOWS

Apple is building an AI-driven home companion on a robotic arm for 2027 and a stationary smart hub for 2026, both running a new multi-user OS that makes Siri proactive and conversational. This marks a platform play to control the home interface, challenging Alexa and Google Assistant with premium hardware plus AI. Expect new merchandising for AI hubs, multi-user content surfaces, and integration opportunities across connected-home ecosystems.

Instant Pot launches a Mini line of compact multi-cookers and air fryers with up to seven cooking functions and multiple colorways. The brand is countering the supersize trend, targeting small kitchens, dorms, and urban households. Retailers can open new shelf space, build small-space bundles, and test color-led merchandising for incremental conversion.

Samsung’s 115-inch Micro RGB TV arrives at $29,999 with micro-scale RGB LEDs, a dedicated AI engine, 100% BT.2020 color coverage, and Glare Free tech on Tizen OS. This resets the premium living-room centerpiece and pushes ultra-luxury home theater into mainstream awareness. Upside for brands: co-merchandise furnishings and acoustic decor around high-end screens and target affluent renovators.

🧐 What Does Brand Building Really Mean in eCommerce?

I had an engaging conversation with Alex Brownsell for the latest episode of the WARC Podcast. | Sam Carter, CEO at Fospha

We discussed where most brands get it wrong when it comes to brand building, with bad measurement and poor organizational structure amongst the biggest contributing factors - and how Fospha is aiming to solve the biggest questions around brand measurement with Glow.

Thanks Alex and team again for having me (and for offering a brief airconditioned respite from the intense heat and chaos of Cannes!)

⚡QUICK READS

Dehumidifier Reliability Benchmarks From GH Institute: Good Housekeeping crowns Honeywell’s 50-pint pump model and spotlights Energy Star Most Efficient picks, signaling consumer preference for efficient, low-maintenance moisture control and clear drainage options.(More)

Yamazaki Small-Space Organizers Win Staff Endorsements: Wirecutter’s roundup reinforces demand for minimalist, steel-wood organizers that maximize vertical storage in compact kitchens and entryways, creating bundle and cross-sell opportunities with small appliances.(More)

Gifting Angle For Home Office Essentials: BuzzFeed’s 62 WFH gifts reframes everyday gear as giftable SKUs, supporting seasonal bundles and price-tiered guides to capture Q4 demand.(More)

ClickZ is a ClickZ Media publication in the DTC eCommerce division