Samsung and IKEA just made the $6 smart home real, and your TV is already the hub

In short: Samsung SmartThings and IKEA announced that 25 new IKEA Matter-over-Thread devices can now connect directly to a SmartThings hub without requiring IKEA’s own DIRIGERA hub, with smart bulbs starting at $5.99 that undercut competitors by half. The integration leverages Thread border routers already embedded in Samsung TVs, soundbars, and appliances since 2022, meaning millions of Samsung hardware owners have the infrastructure for Matter devices without knowing it, as the smart home market heads toward 800 million Matter-compatible devices by year end and a projected $537 billion market by 2030.

Samsung SmartThings and IKEA announced on Monday that 25 of IKEA’s new smart home devices can now connect directly to a SmartThings hub using Matter over Thread, eliminating the need for IKEA’s own DIRIGERA hub as an intermediary. The change sounds incremental. It is not. It means a $6 IKEA smart bulb can now join ...