Author: Ulink Media
Since the CSA Connectivity Standards Alliance (formerly Zigbee Alliance) released Matter 1.0 in October last year, domestic and international smart home players such as Amazon, Apple, Google, LG, Samsung, OPPO, Graffiti Intelligence, Xiaodu, and so on have accelerated the development of support for the Matter protocol, and the end-device vendors have also actively followed suit.
In May this year, Matter version 1.1 was released, optimising the support and development experience for battery-powered devices. Recently, the CSA Connectivity Standards Consortium re-released Matter version 1.2. What are the latest changes in the updated Matter standard? What are the latest changes in the updated Matter standard? How can the Chinese smart home market benefit from the Matter standard?
Below, I will analyse the current development status of Matter and the market driving effect that the Matter1.2 update may bring.
01 The propulsive effect of Matter
According to the latest data on the official website, the CSA Alliance has 33 initiator members, and more than 350 companies are already actively participating in and contributing to the ecosystem of the Matter standard. Many device manufacturers, ecosystems, test labs, and chip vendors have each contributed to the success of the Matter standard in their own meaningful ways for the market and customers.
Only a year after its release as the most talked about smart home standard, the Matter standard has already been integrated into more chipsets, more device variants, and added to more devices in the market. Currently, there are over 1,800 certified Matter products, apps and software platforms.
For mainstream platforms, Matter is already compatible with Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Home and Samsung SmartThings.
As for the Chinese market, it has been some time since Matter devices were officially mass-produced in the country, making China the largest source of device manufacturers in the Matter ecosystem. Of the more than 1,800 certified products and software components, 60 per cent are from Chinese members.
China is said to have the entire value chain from chip makers to service providers, such as test labs and Product Attestation Authorities (PAAs). In order to accelerate the arrival of Matter in the Chinese market, the CSA Consortium has set up a dedicated "CSA Consortium China Member Group" (CMGC), which consists of about 40 members interested in the Chinese market, and is dedicated to promoting the adoption of interconnect standards and facilitating technical discussions in the Chinese market.
In terms of the types of products supported by Matter, the first batch of supported device types are: lighting and electrical (light bulbs, sockets, switches), HVAC controls, curtains and drapes, door locks, media playback devices, safety and security and sensors (door magnets, alarms), bridging devices (gateways), and control devices (mobile phones, smart speakers, and centre panels and other devices with an integrated control app).
As Matter development continues, it will be updated once or twice a year, with updates focusing on three main areas: new feature additions (e.g., device types), technical specification refinements, and enhancements to the SDK and testing capabilities.
Regarding the application prospect of Matter, the market is very confident about Matter under multiple advantages. This unified and reliable way of accessing the network will not only make consumers' experience in the smart home soar, but also drive property developers and building management companies to reassess the importance of large-scale deployment of the smart home, making the industry burst with greater energy.
According to ABI Research, a professional research organisation, the Matter protocol is the first protocol in the smart home sector with huge appeal. According to ABI Research, from 2022 to 2030, a cumulative total of 5.5 billion Matter devices will be shipped, and by 2030, more than 1.5 billion Matter-certified products will be shipped annually.
The smart home penetration rate in regions such as Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America will be rapidly boosted by the strong impetus of the Matter agreement.
Overall, it seems that Matter's starburst has been unstoppable, which also shows the smart home market's desire for a unified ecosystem.
02 Room for improvement in the new agreement
This Matter 1.2 release includes nine new device types and revisions and extensions to existing product categories, as well as significant improvements to existing specifications, SDKs, certification policies and testing tools.
Nine new device types:
1. Refrigerators - In addition to basic temperature control and monitoring, this device type applies to other related devices such as deep freezers and even wine and pickle refrigerators.
2. Room air conditioners - While HVAC and thermostats have become Matter 1.0, standalone room air conditioners with temperature and fan mode control are now supported.
3. Dishwashers - Basic features such as remote start and progress notifications are included. Dishwasher alarms are also supported, covering operational errors such as water supply and drain, temperature, and door lock errors.
4. Washing Machine - Progress notifications, such as cycle completion, can be sent via Matter. dryer Matter release will be supported in the future.
5. Sweeper - In addition to basic features such as remote start and progress notifications, key features such as cleaning modes (dry vacuuming vs. wet mopping) and other status details (brush status, error reports, charging status) are supported.
6. Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarms - These alarms will support notifications as well as audio and visual alert signals. Alerts regarding battery status and end-of-life notifications are also supported. These alarms also support self-testing. Carbon Monoxide alarms support concentration sensing as an additional data point.
7. Air Quality Sensors - Supported sensors capture and report: PM1, PM 2.5, PM 10, CO2, NO2, VOC, CO, ozone, radon, and formaldehyde. In addition, the addition of air quality clusters allows Matter devices to provide AQI information based on the location of the device.
8. Air Purifier - The purifier utilises the air quality sensor device type to provide sensing information and also includes features for other device types such as fans (required) and thermostats (optional). The air cleaner also includes consumable resource monitoring that notifies filter status (HEPA and activated carbon filters are supported in 1.2).
9. Fans -Matter 1.2 includes support for fans as a separate, certifiable device type. Fans now support motion such as Rock/Oscillate and new modes such as Natural Breeze and Sleep Breeze. Other enhancements include the ability to change the direction of airflow (forward and backward) and step commands to change airflow speed.
Core enhancements:
1. Latch Door Locks - Enhancements for the European market capture common configurations of combination latch and bolt lock units.
2. Device Appearance - A description of the device appearance has been added so that devices can be described in terms of their colour and finish. This will enable a useful representation of devices across clients.
3. Device and Endpoint Composition - Devices can now be composed of complex endpoint hierarchies, allowing for accurate modelling of appliances, multi-unit switches and multiple luminaires.
4. Semantic Tags - Provides an interoperable way of describing common clusters and endpoints of location and semantic functional Matter to enable consistent rendering and applications across different clients. For example, semantic labels can be used to represent the location and function of each button on a multi-button remote control.
5. General description of device operating states - Expressing the different operating modes of a device in a generic way will make it easier to generate new device type Matters in future releases and ensure their basic support for different clients.
Under-the-hood Enhancements: Matter SDK and Testing Tools
Matter 1.2 brings significant enhancements to the testing and certification programme to help companies get their products (hardware, software, chipsets and applications) to market faster. These improvements will benefit the broader developer community and ecosystem of Matter.
New Platform Support in SDK - The Matter 1.2 SDK is now available for new platforms, giving developers more ways to build new products with Matter.
Enhanced Matter Test Harness - Test tools are a critical part of ensuring proper implementation of the specification and its functionality. Test tools are now available through open source, making it easier for Matter developers to contribute to the tools (making them better) and ensuring they are using the latest version (with all features and bug fixes).
As a market-driven technology, the new device types, features and updates that make it a Matter specification release are the result of member companies' commitment to multiple stages of creation, implementation and testing. Recently, multiple members gathered to test for version 1.2 at two locations in China and Europe to validate the updates in the specification.
03 A clear view of the future
What are the favourable factors
At present, many domestic manufacturers have participated in the launch and promotion of Matter, but compared with the overseas smart home ecosystem's active embrace of the Matter standard, domestic enterprises seem to be generally cautious in the wait and see. In addition to concerns about the slow landing in the domestic market and the high cost of standard certification, there are also concerns about the difficulty of network sharing under the game of various platforms.
But at the same time, there are also many factors favourable to the Chinese market.
1. The comprehensive potential of the smart home market continues to release
According to Statista data, it is expected that by 2026, the domestic smart home market size is expected to reach $45.3 billion. However, China's smart home penetration rate of 13% is still at a low level, with most smart home categories having a penetration rate of less than 10%. Industry insiders believe that with the introduction of a series of national policies on home recreation, ageing and dual-carbon energy saving, the integration of smart home and its depth can further promote the overall development of the smart home industry.
2. Matter helps small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to seize new business opportunities "at sea".
Currently, the domestic smart home is mainly concentrated in the real estate, flat layer and other pre-installation market, while foreign consumers tend to take the initiative to buy products for DIY configuration. The different needs of domestic and foreign markets also provide different opportunities for domestic manufacturers in various industrial segments. Based on Matter's technology channels and ecosystem, it can realise the interconnection and interoperability of smart home across platforms, clouds and protocols, which in the short term can help more small and medium-sized enterprises to obtain new business opportunities, and in the future, as the ecosystem slowly matures and grows, it is believed that it will further feed the domestic smart home consumer market. In particular, the whole-house smart scene service innovation centred on human living space will be of great benefit.
3. Offline channels to promote the user experience upgrading
Currently, the domestic market for Matter's expectations are more focused on the equipment to go overseas, but with the recovery of consumption after the epidemic, a large number of smart home manufacturers as well as platforms are making efforts to become a major trend in offline shops. Based on the construction of the scene ecology inside the shop channel, the existence of Matter will let the user experience get a big step up, the original local space equipment can not achieve the phenomenon of connectivity has been greatly improved, thus prompting consumers to reach a higher level of purchase intention on the basis of real experience.
Overall, the value of Matter is multi-dimensional.
For users, the arrival of Matter will maximise the range of choices for users, who are no longer restricted by the closed-loop ecosystem of brands and attach more importance to the free choice of product appearance, quality, functionality and other dimensions.
For the industrial ecology, Matter accelerates the integration of the global smart home ecosystem and enterprises, and is an important catalyst to boost the entire smart home market.
In fact, the emergence of Matter is not only a major benefit to the smart home industry, but also will become one of the important driving forces of the "new era" of IoT in the future due to the branding leap and complete IoT value chain aggregation it brings.
Post time: Oct-26-2023