Matter is now the world's most important smart home ecosystem standard, backed by almost all important tech brands, including Amazon, Apple, Google, LG, and Samsung. It was released for consumers a few months ago, and several older smart home devices are yet to get support for Matter. To improve that situation, Google has announced that it is turning smart displays, smart speakers, and smart TVs into Matter Hubs, which can control Matter-compatible smart home devices on the same network.
While Matter was already available on some of Google's smart displays and smart speakers, they were not Matter Hubs. That is changing soon. The same is happening with smart TVs powered by Google and LG.
Google TV, Android TV, and newer LG TVs can act as Matter Hubs to control smart home devices
Google has announced that select Android TV and Google TV-powered smart TVs will act as Matter Hubs. Moreover, Nest Hub or Nest Mini devices can also act as Matter Hubs. Google also worked with LG to make their newer smart TVs act as Matter Hubs. If you have any qualifying smart display, smart speaker, or smart TV, you can easily add and control Matter-compatible smart home devices. Those devices can be controlled locally (on the same Wi-Fi network).
The company didn't announce when this upgrade will happen, but we reckon that it will happen in a phased manner, and it could take months before your qualifying device gets Matter Hub capability with a software update. Google and Samsung have already announced that they are integrating their smart home standards (Google Home and SmartThings) through Matter APIs, allowing all Google Home and SmartThings-compatible devices to be controlled through the company's smart home apps. Samsung also announced that it worked with Amazon for Alexa-SmartThings integration, which means devices compatible with the two companies' smart home standards will be interoperable. Android, iOS, iPadOS, and macOS have already received Matter capabilities.
Google also announced that newer LG TVs will be compatible with Google Cast, which means users can cast their favorite music and videos to an LG TV.
Speaking of smart home devices, check out Samsung's new Wi-Fi-equipped smart speaker called Music Frame in our hands-on video below.
Author's Note: It looks like it's all coming together for smart home devices, as all the brands have come together to solve the biggest issues with smart home devices: compatibility and interoperability. It will be incredibly easy for anyone to build their smart home now. However, there will be initial hiccups, and some smart home devices will never receive the Matter update. Even the Matter 1.0 release was riddled with bugs and issues. However, the future looks good for smart homes and smart home devices.
