The Connectivity Standards Alliance launched a new protocol late fall last year: Matter, an industry–unifying standard to streamline communication across smart home devices, mobile apps, and cloud services. Major brands quickly adopted the new protocol, and Matter became 2023's primary emerging trend for smart home technology.
Matter is an open-source protocol for all smart tech providers seeking compatibility, security, and reliability for their products. In essence, Matter ensures that connected home devices will work with each other instead of requiring separate apps and controls. While simplifying development for manufacturers, Matter also increases compatibility for consumers, who will need a Matter controller to operate Matter-compatible devices. The Verge offers a comprehensive list of Matter controllers here.
Essentially, Matter ensures that all smart home devices are interoperable, secure, and reliable. Everything from cameras to motion sensors will work seamlessly: devices from multiple brands work natively together.
Still, Matter is new on the market and only supports a few categories of smart home devices: home security cameras, vacuums, blinds and shades, locks, thermostats, TVs, wireless access points, home appliances, robot vacuums, garage door controllers, indoor air quality monitors and air purifiers, and smoke and CO detectors. Moreover, Matter will continue to add devices and make functional updates periodically.
All products and devices bearing the Matter logo can be used with Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, or any other ecosystem that meets the standard, according to CSA.
Several smart home industry players have unveiled Matter-certified devices at CES 2023. Among these:
You can expect even more manufacturers to offer Matter-compatible and Matter-certified devices in 2023.