For years, buying a smart home product felt like a compatibility lottery. Will this Philips Hue light work with my Echo? Is this Nest thermostat compatible with HomeKit? Proprietary standards turned buying a light bulb into a multi-variable equation.

In 2026, that picture has evolved — though not entirely simplified.

Matter’s arrival: the interoperability promise

Matter, the protocol developed under the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) and backed by Apple, Google, Amazon, and Samsung, reached critical mass in 2024–2025. The premise is simple: a Matter device can be controlled by any certified platform — HomeKit, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, SmartThings.

In practice, Matter delivered on basic use cases: lighting, smart plugs, sensors. Setup complexity dropped for compatible devices. That’s a genuine consumer win.

But Matter didn’t solve everything. Advanced features — security cameras, robot vacuums, smart locks — often remain proprietary or partially compatible. Manufacturers tend to provide basic interoperability through Matter while keeping premium features locked in their own apps.

Who’s actually winning

Apple HomeKit benefited from Matter by remaining the premium choice for iPhone users who value privacy and design coherence. Its local processing approach (data stays on the device and hub, not the cloud) is a real differentiator in a world increasingly concerned about surveillance.

Google Home streamlined its interface and integrations. For Android households, it’s become the natural choice with strong device compatibility depth.

Samsung SmartThings remains the most open platform, but its complexity has long been a barrier. Integration into Galaxy devices and Samsung TVs gives it natural presence in Samsung-equipped homes.

IKEA’s TRÅDFRI deserves mention: the Swedish brand made accessible smart home a core proposition, with Matter-compatible products at well below premium price points.

What this means for home design brands

The smart home normalizes something that furniture and home equipment brands need to internalize: their objects are going to be connected. A fixture, a blind, a radiator — everything will be controllable. The question for premium home design brands isn’t “should we go connected?” It’s “how do we integrate connectivity without making it visually disruptive?”

The next several years will sort brands that understood this from those that treated connected features as a marketing checkbox.