Ecobee Unveils HomeKit-Enabled Smart Thermostat Essential for $130
Smart home accessory maker Ecobee has announced the Smart Thermostat Essential, a more affordable alternative to the Smart Thermostat Premium and Enhanced models in its lineup.

Priced at $129.99, the Smart Thermostat Essential includes a full-colour touchscreen, and features Ecobee's standard scheduling and comfort settings that adapt to household routines, optimizing energy use when nobody's home. With the device, Ecobee claims customers can save up to 23% on annual heating and cooling costs, covering the cost of the device in just six months.
The unit integrates with the Ecobee mobile app to allow remote control of heating and cooling. Users can receive automatic alerts when potential issues are detected, as well as Home Energy Reports that provide insights into energy use. The thermostat can also be paired with optional Ecobee SmartSensors to further optimize household comfort in the rooms that are used most.
The Ecobee Smart Thermostat Essential is compatible with most major smart home ecosystems, including Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, and Google Assistant, and will be available from major retailers and at ecobee.com from March 2025.
Popular Stories
In a memo shared with Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers this week, and later obtained by MacRumors, Apple provided technicians with guidance on how to diagnose and address the iPhone Duo's inner display cracking issue.
If a customer reports the issue, Apple advised technicians to inspect the iPhone Duo and repair or replace it in accordance with their standard procedures....
While the new iPad mini has an OLED display, the device does not support ProMotion, meaning the display's refresh rate is limited to 60Hz instead of 120Hz.
ProMotion support would have allowed for the iPad mini's refresh rate to automatically adjust from 10Hz to 120Hz depending on the content being displayed, but evidently Apple has kept the feature exclusive to the iPad Pro among iPad...
In the U.S. and most other countries, Apple's website shows the new iPad mini being held by pinched fingers, but this is not the case in South Korea.
The new iPad mini shown with pinched fingers on Apple's website in the U.S.
On its South Korean website, Apple simply shows an image of the iPad mini on its own.
The new iPad mini shown without pinched fingers on Apple's website in South Korea ...