An over-the-air update coming later this month will turn Samsung’s standalone SmartThings Hub into controllers for the new smart home standard Matter. The v2 Hub will control mater devices over Wi-Fi and Ethernet, while the current Hub and SmartThings dongle thread will also act as border routers. Samsung is the first company to publicly announce the Matter certification.
Said Jayeon Jung, Corporate Vice President of Samsung Electronics and Head of Mobile Experience Business, SmartThings ledge In an interview that the company received its Matter certification on Wednesday, October 12, a week after the launch of Matter. Michelle Mindala-Freeman of the Connectivity Standard Alliance, which oversees Matter, confirmed that it began issuing certifications this week, saying Samsung was the first to be safe.
“We worked with Silicon Labs to use the software to run Zigbee and Thread simultaneously using the same hardware chipset.”
During the Samsung Developer Conference keynote this week, SmartThings head Mark Benson announced that Matter Support will be rolling out to its platform this month. Jung confirmed ledge Following on from the main note, Samsung plans to roll out over-the-air updates to all existing v2 and v3 SmartThings Hubs, SmartThings dongles, and the SmartThings app on Android. The software-based SmartThings Hub built into the new Samsung Smart TVs, monitors and Family Hub fridges will be upgraded to support Matter at a later date, Jung says.
While the upgraded hubs will still support Zigbee and Z-Wave, they won’t be a Matter Bridge, at least not anytime soon. “We don’t have any plans to support that ceremony yet,” Jung says. “SmartThings users will be able to continue using those devices connected to the SmartThings Hub, but existing Zigbee and Z-Wave devices will not be exposed to matter.”
The good news is that the $35 dongles for Samsung devices with the SmartThings v3 Hub (now manufactured by Aeotec) and SmartThings Software Hub will become thread border routers. “We worked with Silicon Labs to use the software to run Zigbee and Thread simultaneously using the same hardware chipset,” says Jung. “Once we roll out the software, the SmartThings v3 Hub will support both Zigbee and Matter as thread devices as well as dongles.”
That means if you have a compatible Samsung smart TV or smart fridge and you pick up a $35 dongle, you’ll have a SmartThings Matter controller with a Thread Border router ready to go by the end of this month. Of course, there is no mater device available to control yet. But with the launch of the Standard last week, we should start rolling out products this year.
Image: CSA
Matter is a new smart home interoperability standard that provides a common language for smart home devices to communicate locally in your home without relying on a cloud connection. It uses Wi-Fi and Thread wireless protocols and, at launch, will include media devices including smart sensors, smart lighting, smart plugs and switches, smart thermostats, connected locks and TVs.
This means that if the smart home device you buy has the Matter logo on it, you should be able to set it up and use it in any Matter-compatible device and any Matter-compatible platform. Matter-compatible devices should begin to become available by the end of this year.
Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and Apple Home are just some of the big smart home platforms that have been signed on to support Matter, and we expect updates to come to these platforms in the coming months.
While v2 hubs aren’t able to upgrade to Thread and will support mater devices over Wi-Fi and Ethernet, Jung says they’ll be able to control any Thread device using a thread border router built into another device. Will be If you don’t add a dongle, the same would be true of the software-based hubs in Samsung Smart TVs, monitors, and Family Hub fridges.
Aside from not exposing the SmartThings Hub-connected Zigbee or Z-Wave devices to Matter, Jung says that Samsung has no plans to connect its smart TVs or devices to Matter as devices, meaning that They will only be controlled through the SmartThings app and no other substance controllers. TVs are in first matter spec, but appliances are not. (Samsung is a member of the Home Connectivity Alliance—an association of major appliance makers that wants to do what Matter is doing for smart homes, so someday you can control an LG washing machine in the SmartThings app and its Adverse. ledge saw Its a demo, but no launch timing yet).
Jung says Samsung’s smart device ecosystem is one reason the company thinks consumers will choose to use SmartThings over another platform now, as Matter is making compatibility of devices in a smart home less of a problem. (SmartThings has arguably built its brand as the most open platform to the major players).
Samsung’s Family Hub smart fridge could soon control your mater smart home via SmartThings. Image: Samsung
He also pointed to SmartThings Home Life services, a new feature in the SmartThings app that groups smart homes into energy management, cooking, pet care and air quality to provide actionable advice and control . Currently, these services only work with Samsung devices (except for Energy Management, which can monitor the energy usage of all devices connected to SmartThings). But Jung says, with Matter, Samsung plans to support more devices in these services. “We want to be an open platform so that people can benefit from using SmartThings with all the smart devices in their home,” she says.
Samsung’s claim of advancing platform openness is a bit hollow
However, Samsung’s claim to advance platform openness with SmartThings is a bit hollow by not enabling the Bridge function in its Hub. It is the only platform of the big four that supports both Zigbee and Z-Wave devices, and many devices in the first mater categories – lights, locks, sensors – use the Zigbee and Z-Wave protocols. This meant Samsung had a unique opportunity it didn’t take. It could have been the first platform to bring Zigbee and Z-Wave devices to Matter, allowing all Matter-enabled platforms to control any compatible device connected to their hub. Instead, the SmartThings Hub and dongle will be the first way to get Zigbee, Z-Wave, and Matter all into a single ecosystem — but it needs to have an ecosystem of SmartThings.
