CES 2026: The Smart Home Industry’s Defining Moment for Open Standards (And Who’s Still Holding Out)
CES 2026 has just wrapped up in Las Vegas, and if you’ve been following the smart home industry, this year’s announcements feel less like business as usual and more like a watershed moment. After years of proprietary ecosystems forcing you to choose between Apple, Google, Amazon, or Samsung and stick with that choice forever, we’re finally seeing widespread adoption of Matter, Thread, and Zigbee are the open standards that let your devices work together regardless of manufacturer.
But not everyone’s on board yet. While some companies are racing towards interoperability and consumer freedom, others are doubling down on closed ecosystems that keep you locked in. At DigIoT, our entire mission centres on helping you navigate this landscape and choose products based on merit and openness, not vendor partnerships. So let’s break down what happened at CES 2026 and what it means for anyone building a smart home in 2026.
The Big Winner: Matter Continues Its Momentum
Matter 1.5 was the star of the show, with the recently-introduced camera support making waves. This latest version of the standard means your security cameras can finally work across different ecosystems without proprietary apps or subscriptions.
Aqara’s Impressive “Spatial Intelligence” Ecosystem
Aqara arrived at CES with arguably the most comprehensive Matter-enabled product lineup we’ve seen. Their approach centres on what they call “spatial intelligence” homes that don’t just react to motion sensors but actually understand where people are, what they’re doing, and respond accordingly.
Every single one of these products supports Matter and open protocols. That’s the future we want to see.
IKEA Makes Its CES Debut: Budget-Friendly Matter for Everyone
IKEA’s first ever CES appearance might have been the most important announcement for everyday consumers. The Swedish giant unveiled 21 Matter-compatible smart home devices, with prices starting at an almost unbelievable £6 for a smart bulb and £8 for a smart plug.
This isn’t cut-rate hardware, these devices support Matter-over-Thread and work with Apple Home, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and any other Matter-compatible ecosystem. You can use IKEA’s own DIRIGERA hub or any Matter hub you already own.
There’s one caveat worth mentioning: Google Home doesn’t yet properly support some of these generic Matter controls, particularly the button remotes. This highlights an ongoing challenge we’ll discuss later.
SwitchBot’s Bold Vision (With Full Matter Support)
SwitchBot used CES to showcase their “Smart Home 2.0” vision, powered by AI robotics. The headline-grabbing onero H1 humanoid robot and AI MindClip wearable assistant are futuristic, but what matters most for smart home buyers are the practical products.
The Lock Vision Series introduces the world’s first deadbolt smart locks with 3D structured-light facial recognition, using over 2,000 infrared projection points for millimetre-level accuracy. Crucially, it features Matter-over-Wi-Fi connectivity, enabling direct, hub-free integration with Apple Home, Google Home, and other ecosystems. All biometric data is stored locally on the device with no cloud dependency.
SwitchBot’s commitment to Matter means their expanding product line remains compatible across ecosystems, giving you the freedom to change platforms without replacing your hardware.
Govee Pushes Smart Lighting Forward (With Matter)
Lighting specialist Govee announced three new flagship products, the Floor Lamp 3, Ceiling Light Ultra, and Sky Ceiling Light all supporting Matter over Wi-Fi. Their new LuminBlend+ technology offers 16-bit precision with control over 281 trillion colours and temperatures from 1000K to 10,000K.
Beyond the technical specs, Govee’s expanding Samsung SmartThings support and commitment to Matter 1.5 compatibility shows they understand that consumers want choice, not lock-in.
The Ecosystem Challenge: When Platforms Hold Back Progress
Here’s where things get complicated. Matter is only as good as the ecosystems that implement it, and CES 2026 revealed some concerning gaps.
Google Home still doesn’t properly support generic switches from the first Matter release, meaning devices like IKEA’s BILRESA remotes and KLIPPBOK water detector won’t work in the Google ecosystem. Meanwhile, Amazon’s Alexa doesn’t yet support leak sensors, rendering the same IKEA detector useless for Alexa users.
Samsung’s SmartThings, by contrast, announced full Matter 1.5 implementation just weeks after the specification’s release. This fragmented implementation creates exactly the confusion Matter was supposed to eliminate.
The technical capabilities exist but it’s platform choice holding things back.
Amazon’s Closed Ecosystem Expansion: Ring and Sidewalk
Which brings us to Amazon’s CES announcements. While many manufacturers are embracing open standards, Amazon doubled down on Amazon Sidewalk* their proprietary mesh networking protocol.
The new Ring Sensors lineup including door/window sensors, motion detectors, glass break sensors, and panic buttons all operate exclusively on Amazon Sidewalk rather than open standards like Zigbee, Thread, or Wi-Fi. Amazon frames this as an advantage because Sidewalk extends connectivity beyond your Wi-Fi range using a mesh network of Echo speakers and Ring devices.
But here’s what they’re not highlighting: you’re building your home on Amazon’s infrastructure. If Amazon changes the terms of service, discontinues support, or you decide to switch ecosystems, your investment in these sensors is largely worthless. There’s no interoperability with non-Amazon platforms.
To be clear: Ring makes good products, and Amazon Sidewalk does solve real connectivity problems. But at DigIoT, we believe you should understand the trade-offs. When you choose Ring Sensors over open-standard alternatives, you’re choosing convenience today over freedom tomorrow.
The Broader Picture: Open Standards Aren’t Perfect, But They’re Progress
Matter isn’t without challenges. Battery-powered Matter devices still can’t match the efficiency of mature Zigbee devices for example, Aqara reports their FP300 multi-sensor runs for three years on Zigbee but only two years on Thread. The older Zigbee protocol has decades of optimization that Thread and Matter-over-Thread are still working to match.
But perfection shouldn’t be the enemy of progress. New chips like Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF54 series are closing the efficiency gap, and every manufacturer at CES showcased improved battery performance compared to early Matter devices.
The real challenge is getting the major ecosystems (Amazon, Apple, Google, Samsung) to implement Matter specifications consistently and quickly. When SmartThings supports Matter 1.5 within weeks while Google Home is stuck on version 1.2, consumers pay the price in compatibility headaches.
What This Means for Your Smart Home in 2026
If you’re building or expanding your smart home this year, here’s our guidance based on the CES announcements:
Prioritise Matter-compatible devices whenever possible. Products from Aqara, IKEA, Shelly, SwitchBot, and Govee give you genuine ecosystem flexibility. You can start with Apple Home today and switch to Samsung SmartThings tomorrow without replacing your hardware.
Be cautious with proprietary systems like Amazon Sidewalk or closed camera ecosystems. They may offer short-term convenience, but you’re betting your entire smart home investment on that manufacturer’s long-term support and goodwill.
Watch ecosystem implementation carefully. Before buying based on “Matter support,” verify that your chosen platform (Apple Home, Google Home, SmartThings, etc.) actually implements the features you need. The IKEA/Google Home situation shows that Matter compatibility isn’t always straightforward.
Consider local control. Products like Aqara’s hubs and thermostats that operate locally without cloud dependency give you resilience against internet outages and privacy peace of mind.
Our Take: The Industry Is Moving in the Right Direction (Mostly)
CES 2026 felt like a turning point. When IKEA one of the world’s largest retailers launches 21 Matter-over-Thread devices starting at £6, and Aqara builds an entire “spatial intelligence” ecosystem on open standards, it signals that vendor lock-in is becoming commercially unviable.
The holdouts are notable. Amazon’s expansion of Sidewalk and Ring’s proprietary ecosystem shows that closed platforms still have defenders, particularly companies with established market positions who benefit from lock-in.
But the momentum is clear. Matter 1.5 cameras, Thread-enabled sensors at consumer-friendly prices, and manufacturers like Samsung fully implementing new specifications quickly these are wins for consumers who want choice and freedom.
At DigIoT, we’ll continue stocking products that respect your right to build a smart home on your terms. We evaluate devices based on capability and openness, not vendor partnerships. When we recommend Aqara, SwitchBot, Shelly, IKEA, or Govee, it’s because they’re building products that work with your ecosystem today and will work with whatever ecosystem you choose tomorrow.
That’s what vendor-agnostic means. And CES 2026 showed it’s not just our philosophy it’s increasingly the industry’s future.
Want to stay updated on which devices genuinely support open standards versus which lock you into proprietary ecosystems?
Subscribe to our newsletter for plain-English breakdowns of smart home tech that put your freedom first, not manufacturer profits.
Building a vendor-agnostic smart home? Browse our curated selection of Matter, Thread, and Zigbee devices at (https://www.digiot.co.uk) – every product chosen for merit and openness, never vendor partnerships.