‘Tis the season to find some serious bargains on smart home gear. Black Friday and its close cousin, Cyber Monday, have long been prime times to nab a deal on smart lighting, smart locks, robot vacuums, security cameras, and smart speakers, to name just a few.
With the new smart home standard Matter on the horizon (yes, it is technically here, but there still are very few devices you can actually buy), it’s worth being a bit discerning in your bargain shopping if you plan to take advantage of the new interoperability protocol. (Which means if you want all your devices to work with all the different smart home platforms out of the box). So, we’ve highlighted deals on gadgets that will work with Matter or, if not, gadgets that work with all the major platforms.
Some device categories are not on the Matter bandwagon yet, including cameras and robot vacuums. We’re not going to tell you to wait — if you need them, now is definitely the time to buy them, as there are seriously good deals to be had.
Matter is a new smart home standard that will make it easier for your gadgets to work with each other and any platform you want to control them with — from Amazon Alexa and Google Home to Apple Home and Samsung SmartThings.
Matter devices will need a Matter controller, and those that use Thread — a protocol Matter runs on — will need a Thread border router. Black Friday is the perfect time to pick up one of the many gadgets that will have this functionality built-in for a bargain.