The Pitch Is "No Subscription," and the Cost Shows Up in Compute
The business model in home cameras has converged over the past few years: thin hardware margins, with AI analysis and cloud storage billed monthly. MindBase goes the other way — analysis runs on the box, Anker states plainly that no personal data is sent to the cloud and no subscription is required, and frames that stance as a response to past controversies in the security industry. Security is the first application: real-time footage analysis, event summaries, highlight reels, natural-language search across recordings, and tiered alerts for faces, people, cars, pets and strangers. Nearly all of that historically ran in the cloud, and moving it on-device means the box has to carry the compute itself. Which makes 26 TOPS a number that needs a reference point: Microsoft requires at least 40 TOPS for a Copilot PC. This is modest silicon by on-device AI standards. One reviewer who handled it put it as either the most useful application of on-device AI they had seen this year, or the one they would most want a clear off switch for. How far natural-language search over recordings actually gets at this compute budget is the thing that remains to be proven.
Storage and Connectivity Specs
Storage is a two-bay enclosure branded Anker EverSafe Memory, with 64GB of internal flash plus up to 48TB of external drive capacity. Existing eufy HomeBase S380 users can transfer their footage across — for current owners that detail matters more than the spec sheet. On connectivity it coexists rather than replaces: it acts as a Matter 1.5 controller with Thread and Zigbee built in, working alongside HomeKit, Alexa, Google Assistant and Home Assistant, and supports 20 cameras and 34 sensors, close to 100 Anker devices, plus hundreds of third-party Matter products. Coverage breaks the camera count down as up to 16 wireless plus four more over PoE with an external switch. Several devices launched alongside it: the TrackLight Cam S1 (180° dual-radar detection, 4K, auto-tracking deterrent light), the Video Doorbell S4 (180° panoramic, 9MP, 3K, color night vision), a Smart Security Shield that detects strangers up to 15 meters away, and a DSKey Credential recognizing family members up to 30 meters. When triggered, the security agent escalates through lighting, verbal warnings, observation and active deterrence.
What Is Still Unsettled
Neither price nor release date was announced; Anker says later this year. The doorbell is separately listed at a $299.99 US MSRP with Chime, arriving in late September. One source disagreement should be flagged: some reporting says this launch marks the end of the eufy and Soundcore sub-brands with everything consolidating under Anker, while other outlets still refer to these cameras as eufy products. Treat the vendor's own subsequent statement as authoritative. The practical implication for readers: if you care about whose servers hold your footage and face analysis, this is one of the few products that answers the question in hardware specifications rather than privacy policy language. But until it ships and gets independent review, how much local AI 26 TOPS actually supports — and what still works when the internet is out — rests entirely on the vendor's own account.
via: Forbes, Gizmodo, 9to5Toys, Yanko Design hands-on