Matter represents a smart home standard designed to enhance interoperability among competing home ecosystems, including those developed by Apple, Google, and Amazon. A recent report indicates that Matter is preparing to introduce smart speaker support, but there’s an important caveat for Apple enthusiasts and HomePod users.
New Matter speaker support will focus on specific products only
Today, The Verge reported that Matter is creating ‘a new streaming speaker device type and associated controls’ as part of its smart home framework. This announcement was confirmed by CTO Chris LaPré of the Connectivity Standards Alliance that oversees Matter.
However, before you get too hopeful about the idea of HomePods and Amazon Echos functioning harmoniously together, there’s a significant limitation to consider.
Despite the upcoming ‘streaming speaker device type,’ popular smart speakers will not be incorporated.
Instead, the initiative is aimed at audio devices from brands like Sonos, Bose, and similar manufacturers, specifically those designed primarily for music playback rather than for managing other smart home gadgets.
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, writing for The Verge, explains:
Smart speakers such as HomePods, Echo devices, and Google’s Nest speakers act as Matter controllers, not Matter device types. This means they can connect to and manage Matter devices within their ecosystems but cannot be operated by other Matter-compatible devices or ecosystems. Consequently, you can’t use an Amazon Echo Show to adjust the volume on a Google Nest speaker or have your HomePod inform you when your Matter-enabled washing machine finishes its cycle.
Nonetheless, it’s not all negative news.
This prospective integration may still provide advantages by allowing various third-party speaker systems to be supported within Apple’s Home app and Siri. For those entrenched in the Sonos ecosystem or mixing various speaker brands, Matter compatibility could be a welcome enhancement. This will undoubtedly make transitioning between different home ecosystems more manageable.
However, this doesn’t fulfill the ideal scenario you may envision, where different smart speakers from Apple, Amazon, and Google operate seamlessly in one unified smart home environment.
Are you intrigued by this new Matter speaker feature? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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