Samsung SmartThings bets on new Matter protocol – here’s what it means
With the convergence of the smart home world on the horizon, Samsung has confirmed it is integrating the new Matter protocol within the SmartThings ecosystem.
With Google, Apple and Amazon already on board with the soon-to-be de facto standard, Samsung has confirmed Matter support across all of its Galaxy devices, TVs, SmartThings devices and more.
That means any problems built on the new Matter standard can be controlled by existing Samsung devices, without users worrying about cross-compatibility issues.
Announced at the Samsung Developer Conference, the company is going beyond its status as an initial founding member for the standard formerly known as Project CHIP. The company already supports devices built on existing protocols, like Google, eve, Honeywell, Nanoleaf, Philips Hue, Schlage, Wemo, Yale and plenty more.
As with other stakeholders, as well as supporting third-party products, Samsung itself plans to bring Matter support to its own first-party devices next year, once the new standard becomes available.
The idea behind Matter is to ensure the that whatever smart home devices users choose to purchase, they will work with across all platforms and with all hubs.
“Samsung TVs, appliances and Galaxy devices are part of everyday life for millions of people around the world and integrating SmartThings hub functionality into these devices will make it easier for users to experience connected living without additional hardware purchase. On top of that, adding Matter support into the SmartThings platform will only broaden the choices of devices to connect as Matter-enabled devices flood into the market next year,” said Jaeyeon Jung, Corporate Vice President at Samsung Electronics and Head of SmartThings.
“We truly believe that Matter is the foundation and future of IoT, and we are thrilled that Samsung SmartThings will be embedding it into so many products accelerating smart home adoption and bringing users more convenient connected home experiences wherever they are,” said Michelle Mindala-Freeman, Head of Marketing for the Connectivity Standards Alliance.