Samsung’s presence at CES didn’t end with the launch of the highly anticipated Galaxy S21 FE. On Tuesday, the company took the stage to announce its latest efforts in the smart home space and SmartThings, Samsung’s connected ecosystem. While the company has announced many smart home products, such as custom home appliances, it also unveiled a new Home Hub display for controlling and monitoring devices.
At first glance, Samsung’s Home Hub is just a tablet with a docking station, but it’s really a lot less than that, and that seems like the point.
Home Hub is a dedicated screen that makes it easy to access and use all the controls in your smart home. The interface is identical to Samsung’s SmartThings app, with tabs for accessing devices, automation, favorites, and various SmartThings services.
Samsung was fairly silent on the details of the Home Hub, but said it “integrates with AI-connected devices to make home management easier.” It looks like Samsung is focusing on smart home control, omitting the superfluous entertainment features you’ll find on some of the best smart displays like the Amazon Echo Show 15.
Unfortunately, the Home Hub will only be available in Korea sometime this year, with no known plans to launch it globally yet.
However, Samsung is also taking steps to expand its SmartThings Hub technology by further integrating it into its devices. This will allow Samsung TVs, screens, and even refrigerators to act as SmartThings hubs to connect and control other devices in your home. These capabilities will come to select Samsung products throughout this year.
Additionally, Samsung announced that it is a founding member of the Home Connectivity Alliance (HCA), which aims to make smart home devices work seamlessly, regardless of manufacturer. It sounds a lot like the Matter initiative, which Samsung is also a part of, so this move feels a bit redundant. For now, we’ll have to wait and see how this initiative pairs up with Matter when the standard launches later this year.
Patience is a virtue
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