Nanoleaf’s First Matter-Enabled Products Are Here

The first Matter-enabled Nanoleaf products are now available for pre-order. That said, these products are pretty low-key—an Essentials A19 full-color smart bulb and LED lightstrip. Note that existing Nanoleaf Essentials will not receive a Matter update.

Nanoleaf first announced its Matter-enabled Essentials lighting in November of 2022. The original announcement included GU10 and BR30 bulbs, though these are now set to launch at a later date.

There isn’t much to explain about these new products. The Essentials A19 bulb ($19+) and Essentials Lightstrip ($50) feature 16 million color options, plus a range of color temperatures and support for Scenes and automations. The defining feature here is Matter and Thread support.

The Thread smart home standard allows for a speedy device setup, and notably, it improves the responsiveness and range of other Thread-enabled devices in your home. Matter builds on Thread with cross-device compatibility—if two smart home products support Matter, they’ll work together, regardless of their branding. (All the major smart home brands, including Google, Amazon, Apple, and Samsung, are committed to Matter.)

Of course, this functionality requires a Matter-compatible smart home hub and Thread Border Router. Google and Amazon are working on integrating this technology with their respective products, but Apple’s HomePod and Apple TV set-top box are already good to go.

Nanoleaf is reiterating a commitment that it made in January. The company promises to roll out Matter support for existing light panels and bars (Shapes, Elements, Canvas, Lines) by the end of 2023. (Nanoleaf was a bit wishy-washy about the Matter update when we asked about it in 2022. So, I’m relieved that the company is sticking with this commitment.)

Continue Reading