What you need to know
- Samsung's SmartThings devices will support the new Matter standard beginning in 2022.
- The new standard is designed to make phones, smart speakers and other devices compatible with each other regardless of who made them.
- Samsung is the latest company to join the Matter protocol, following other tech giants like Amazon, Google and Apple.
During its developer conference, Samsung announced the integration of Matter into its SmartThings system and Galaxy devices, enabling any SmartThings-enabled devices to work directly with third-party ecosystems.
The new integration will make it easier to control SmartThings-enabled devices such as televisions and the Family Hub lineup of smart home products through Matter. This means the new connectivity standard should make Samsung's SmartThings ecosystem compatible with other systems including Google Assistant and Amazon's Alexa.
Existing standards such as Zigbee and Z-Wave are already supported by the SmartThings platform, though there are some gaps in the systems' interoperability at the moment. The Matter integration should broaden consumers' options when purchasing smart home devices such as many of the best LED light bulbs or thermostats.
More than 180 companies are currently supporting the new protocol, including several tech giants such as Google, Apple, and Amazon. Google, for example, has already announced Matter support for some of its products, such as the Nest Hub (2nd Gen). The goal is to replace today's disparate standards with a single standard for current and future smart home products.
Samsung will begin to incorporate Matter into its ecosystem in 2022, when the new standard is set to become widely available. However, the rollout is a bit behind schedule, as it was supposed to happen by the end of this year.
It is a boon for consumers in that it gives them confidence that any connected product they purchase, regardless of manufacturer, will be compatible with their smart home system.
Nest Hub (2nd Gen)
The new Nest Hub improves on its predecessor in several ways, including the new Soli sleep tracking feature, which uses radar to determine how restful your sleep was based on environmental factors. Because it supports the new Matter protocols, the new Nest Hub is practically future-proof.
