Matter 1.6 Launches as Apple, Google, Amazon Lag on Adoption
Get the Tech newsletter
Daily tech — startups, AI labs, chips, the launches that shape the next decade. Free.
- Matter launched four years ago in Amsterdam with backing from Apple, Google, Amazon, and Samsung, promising to end walled gardens in smart home ecosystems — but adding devices remains cumbersome and cross-platform sharing remains unreliable.
- Matter 1.6 debuted at the CSA's inaugural Unify conference in Austin, Texas, introducing Joint Fabric, which lets users create a single smart home network controllable from any Matter platform.
- Apple, Google, and Amazon remain on Matter 1.3, released two years ago, while SmartThings committed to adopting new specs within six months; Samsung hasn't yet added Matter support to its appliances.
- The CSA now has 940 member companies with 300 actively working on Matter, over 1,200 certified products, and security cameras — long-requested — finally covered by the spec.
- Ikea's recent Matter-over-Thread rollout hit serious connectivity problems, prompting a weeklong troubleshooting session where engineers from major ecosystems worked 7AM to 10:30PM daily to track down bugs.
- Amazon is flagged as the biggest concern for Matter's future, with the company appearing more supportive of 'everything' than committed to Matter specifically, and having shifted toward its proprietary Sidewalk protocol after Ring founder Jamie Siminoff's return.
Why it matters: For consumers who bought Matter-logo devices expecting universal cross-platform compatibility, the two-version gap between spec 1.6 and ecosystems stuck at 1.3 means the seamless experience they were promised remains delayed — and Amazon's apparent lukewarmness adds uncertainty about whether the founding trio will deliver full platform parity.
Ask SkimNews
