New news is arriving at the start of 2025 concerning Matter, the universal home automation standard, which announced support for smart speakersBut all that glitters is not gold.
Matter announced that it would support new devices: smart speakers. This would mean that all speakers compatible with the new standard could be used on all home automation platforms, as is the case with the rest of Matter compatible devices, and this will be the case but not when it comes to HomePod, Google Nest and Amazon Echo. Only speakers designed to play music will be included, not those that allow you to control a home automation ecosystem.
Why will speakers like Sonos and Bose, among others, be included in this new type of accessories compatible with Matter and not smart speakers from Apple, Amazon or Google? The explanation is simple: These speakers are already compatible with Matter, but as driversas accessory centers, not accessories, so we won't be able to control the volume of our Echo from the HomePod or ask the Google Nest to start playing music on the HomePod in the bedroom.
What will Matter support mean for smart speakers? We can hear a smoke detector on the speaker, if the sensor is also compatible, or the speaker can announce that the washing machine is finished if we have a compatible model. We can also play music on any Matter speaker from any compatible app with the protocol, regardless of the brands or platforms we are talking about.
Anyway we will still have to wait a long time to make it a reality as there are still many details and technical issues to resolve, so don't expect it to happen soon, not even this year. Matter did not even want to give an estimated date when this new feature could be used.
