For years, a coalition of companies including Google, Amazon and Apple — the Connectivity Standards Alliance — has been trying to get Matter, the smart home networking protocol off the ground. Unlike many of the standards that came before it (eg Zigbee, Z-Wave), Matter does not require a proprietary hub and runs locally, making it more resilient to disruptions such as power and internet outages.
But it was difficult.
The theme has not promised so far, suffering from poor implementation and major plot twist. The original version, released in 2022, didn’t even support robot vacuums. And important features like multi-manager, which theoretically allows Matter devices to work simultaneously with any smart home platform, remain broken pending future patches.
But setbacks haven’t stopped Matter’s backers from pushing ahead — as evidenced by the announcements at CES 2024 in Las Vegas, which we recap below. Maybe — just maybe — 2024 will be the year of matter.
LG TVs
During Monday’s press conference, LG announced that LG TVs will soon (sometime later this year) function as Matter controllers — allowing users to set up, view and control all of their Matter-compatible devices from one place. Support extends to hardware within Google Home, Google’s family of smart home products. During LG’s press conference, Google’s Eric Kay said that LG TV users will be able to manage “both LG devices and Google Home devices directly from the TV.”
Image Credits: LG
Nanoleaf lights
Nanoleaf, the smart lighting company, unveiled its first dedicated outdoor lights at CES: the Smart Multicolor Outdoor String Lights and Smart Multicolor Permanent Outdoor Lights. Coming in early spring, both are compatible with Matter — part of Nanoleaf’s Matter Essentials line.
The new lights can be programmed with most major voice assistants—a plus of the Matter standard—as well as with Matter-compatible apps, including Nanoleaf’s official app. They come with predefined lighting scenes and can be integrated with other Nanoleaf products, allowing lights to be grouped with other lights and automated using app-defined schedules.
Nanoleaf’s new outdoor lights.
In addition to the new outdoor lights, Nanoleaf said the previously announced $249.99 Smart Modular Ceiling Light — square LED ceiling panels designed to mimic a ceiling skylight — will launch this month and partner with Matter. The Smart Multicolor Lightstrip, Nanoleaf’s first color-changing indoor lighting strip, will also work with Matter when it hits store shelves this spring, the company said.
Lockly Visage
Smart lock company Lockly took to CES 2024 with one of the most futuristic devices supporting matter: a smart lock that can scan your face. Coming this summer, the $350 Visage wireless lock uses a pair of infrared sensors to detect and scan faces within a few feet.
Visage, which can store up to 100 face profiles, allows users to authenticate themselves in other ways, including fingerprints and Apple’s Home Key. Certification of the subject is technically pending, Lockly said with full transparency — but once it arrives (hopefully before Visage retails), Visage will work with Apple’s Home app along with technology like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.
Image Credits: Lockly
Lockly also announced at CES that the $80 Matter Link Hub, which allows users to manage older Lockly devices from Matter-enabled apps and devices, will be available later this year. The company previously teased the hub was coming, but hadn’t provided a launch window until this week.
Aqara Hub M3
Aqara, the new smart home, has brought to CES 2024 the busy hub compatible with Matter – the Hub M3.
The M3 has an IR blaster for controlling devices like older TVs and AC units, which can be exposed to hardware-friendly apps and devices. A system-on-a-chip performs local automation of devices programmed through the Aqara app or a third-party Matter app, such as Apple Home, Google Home or Amazon Alexa, even if the internet is down — and users who pick up a second M3 they can benefit from an automatic backup feature that mirrors all automations on the secondary hub.
Image Credits: Aqara
Aqara hasn’t announced pricing for the M3, but said it will launch in the second quarter of 2024, with support for third-party Matter devices coming in “waves”.
In addition to the M3, Aqara debuted the Smart Lock U300, a smart lock for doors with lever locks, such as garage doors and side entrances. Featuring a keyboard, fingerprint reader, NFC reader and a battery that lasts up to eight months, the U300 works with the Aqara app or any third-party Matter app.
Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra
Roborock, a long-time fixture in the robotic vacuum cleaner market, launched its first Matter-compatible vacuum cleaner at CES: the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra.
Priced at $1,800, the S8 MaxV Ultra features a motorized arm that pushes the side brush of the robot vacuum cleaner at small angles and a camera for AI obstacle avoidance. There’s also an extra mop that spins, a powerful vibrating mop, and a charging dock that can connect directly to a home’s drainage system and wash the robot mop with hot water.
Image Credits: Roborock
One of the S8 MaxV Ultra’s most notable features is its voice assistant, Rocky, which can understand basic commands like “clean the kitchen” and “empty the bin.” It works both in person — when the S8 MaxV Ultra is within speaking distance — and remotely via a video calling feature.
It is worth noting that, while the S8 MaxV Ultra technically is technically compatible with Matter, none of the major smart home platforms have yet added support for robotic vacuums via Matter. It’s unclear if that will change until April, when the S8 MaxV Ultra hits the market.
Mui Board Gen 2
The Mui Board 2 isn’t new, per se — it was first unveiled at CES 2023 — but this week marked the launch of the smart home device touch controller’s crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.
The Mui Board 2 was designed to look like a piece of wood, with illuminated controls (including timers) for various smart home products. The LED dot matrix display shows things like the time and weather, in addition to information from sensors like thermostats.
Image Credits: Mui
Since the Mui Board 2 has Matter support, it can be used to control a range of Matter-compatible hardware — including some of the hardware in this collection.
Amazon Matter Casting
It’s not a device launch, really. However, Amazon became the first to support Matter Casting, the ability to cast video and audio of the Matter smart home standard, to its smart displays and smart TVs this week.
Once Matter Casting comes to Amazon’s Prime Video app for Android and iOS, users will be able to cast content to supported Amazon devices — starting with the Echo Show 15 — by pressing the new dedicated Matter Casting button. Beyond the Echo Show 15, Amazon says Matter Casting support will come to Fire TVs, including Panasonic smart TVs with built-in Fire TV and — on the app side — Plex, Pluto TV, Sling TV, Starz and ZDF later this year.
“Customers can start watching a movie or browse for their next favorite show from Prime Video on their phone and stream it to their compatible Fire TV device or Echo Show 15,” Amazon writes in a post that posted on her official blog. “This is an industry-first demonstration of the application of Matter Casting.”
