Belkin hits back at reports it has abandoned Matter

  • March 29, 2023
  • Steve Rogerson

Belkin has hit back at reports in the press that its Wemo smart home brand is backing away from the Matter standard.

Wemo was one of the first companies to get on board with Matter, promising at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in 2022 that it would be bringing Matter-compliant products to market when the standard launched.

But reports in the press this month suggest that the company has backed away from that pledge.

However, Belkin vice president Jen Wei in an email to IMC IoT Newsdesk described many of these reports as a “mischaracterisation” of the company’s product strategy.

“We remain firm believers that Matter will have a significantly positive impact on the smart home industry, but have made the decision to rethink our approach in the smart home space,” said Wei. “At this time, we have chosen not to move forward with the launch of the Matter-based smart plugs, light switch and dimmer we had on our roadmap for early this year. But when we are able to bring differentiated products to market, we will.”

Wei promised some “cool new products” in the future.

Wemo is the home automation and IoT brand from Belkin. Through the integration of technology and ease of use, Wemo users can control their lights and smart home devices from anywhere with Apple HomeKit.

The company does support Thread technology. For example, last year it introduced a smart dimmer using Thread to control lights from anywhere through the Home app, Wemo Stage or by asking Siri.

The company is based in southern California and its products can be found in retailers across North America, Europe and Asia. In 2018, Belkin merged with Foxconn Interconnect Technology to bolster its global influence.