T
Terrence OโBrien
Guest
Thereโs already been a number of leaks of upcoming Philips Hue products that are expected to be announced next week ahead of IFA. But one thing that hasnโt been mentioned was support for Matter-over-Thread. While thereโs no confirmation that support is coming, thereโs compelling evidence to suggest it might be.
First off, packaging for two unannounced bulbs appeared on Amazon, with a Matter logo prominently displayed on the box. While Hue devices have been capable of connecting via Matter using the Hue Bridge as a middleman, theyโve never supported the protocol directly. Thatโs in part because Matter only works via Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Thread; Hue has been a Zigbee and Bluetooth-only ecosystem for years.
Then thereโs the since-removed FCC filing discovered by HueBlog. A supposed screenshot of the document shows a label for a new Hue White lightbulb with a Matter setup code under the familiar Bluetooth and Zigbee logos. This almost certainly means the lightbulb will connect directly via Matter. Wired Ethernet would obviously be an odd choice. Wi-Fi is a possibility, but the more logical option would be Thread, which is low-power and can create self-healing mesh networks.
The one issue is, thereโs no mention of Thread or Wi-Fi in the FCC filing anywhere, only Bluetooth and Zigbee. According to HueBlog, however, one document read (before it was removed), โThis product only supports BLE 125k/500k/1M/2Mbps:2402-2480MHz, Zigbee:2405-2480MHz. The other functions, bands and modes was [sic] disabled to use by manufacturer [sic] in the software.โ What are those other functions, bands, and modes? Itโs not specified in any document I could find, but itโs reasonable to assume the list might include Thread which, like Zigbee, uses the 2.4GHz band.
Philips isnโt about to abandon Zigbee for Thread overnight, but this would give users direct access to Hue bulbs from any Matter controller, with the Bridge only needed for some advanced features, like dynamic lighting effects. Plus thereโs a growing momentum behind Matter-over-Thread, with Ikea recently announcing over 20 products supporting it.
Continue reading...
