Aqara has won a reputation as one of the primary Matter device makers. Following the release of a series of new Matter devices at CES earlier this year, the firm announced more Matter devices and features at IFA 2025, including new cameras, hubs, and a new version of smart sockets and plugs with dual protocols.
At the Aqara booth, Filipp Shved, Product Marketing Lead of Aqara, shared important updates on the company’s direction with Matter Alpha. He highlighted Aqara’s dedication to providing users with more options for their smart homes, developing useful AI features, accelerating product development, and collaborating closely with emerging smart home standards, including Matter. Even though Aqara sees itself as a relatively “small player” in certain markets, it aims to become a top brand by focusing on new ideas and what users truly need.
More choices in AI and cameras
A key part of Aqara’s strategy is to “give the users the choice”. This is especially true for cameras, where they offer “multiple options for different types of products”. For instance, if someone wants “fully local detection” – meaning all processing happens on the device without needing the cloud – they can choose the G5 Pro, which offers many types of detection. If a user wants a simpler camera or isn’t sure about advanced features yet, they can start with cloud-based detections.
Aqara aims to “localize which features should be on the cloud” while keeping others cloud-based, so users can pick what suits them.
Soon, Aqara will introduce the Home Station Hub, which was shown as a prototype at IFA. These hubs will have powerful local recognition features, allowing users with several cameras, like the G100, to process data locally through one central device instead of paying extra for each camera to do it.
This approach will also offer “better support for third-party consistency, especially the Matter camera support” because this is something Aqara will have “very soon”.
The main challenge, which many brands face, is to “come up with use cases which are useful for end users”. To tackle this, Aqara uses a “trial and error” method, gathering feedback from users to “implement as many different use cases as possible”. Current and planned AI features include “AI video search” and future “AI VLM automations”, to “make it local” eventually.
Filipp believes that Aqara, despite being a small player, can achieve “at least maybe even better recognition” than bigger brands like Wyze and Ring in certain scenarios by focusing on user feedback, because “not many brands actually have done it in the right way”.
User feedback drives fast development
As mentioned, user feedback is vital for how Aqara develops products. For devices already on the market, feedback comes through customer support. In the future, Aqara plans to “have many more methods to gather this feedback directly from the app,” including asking “real users of a particular product about their opinion on what should be improved” and running “AB tests”.
For new products, a key part of their process is a “very massive beta testing process”. They select users from different countries, send them the products, and collect the feedback. They also vote on “which features are missing” or “should be improved” before launch, a disclosure approach in addition to the public forum and social media.
Depending on device priority and features, the quickest products go from idea to market in about “half a year”. While recognizing that unexpected internal and external issues can cause delays, similar to larger companies, Aqara feels that being a “small guy” can be an advantage, allowing them to “move quicker and… make decisions faster”.
Matter cameras and Aliro
Aqara is deeply involved in developing the Matter smart home standard. They have teams working with the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), and “some of the device types and… functionalities they actually were brought up by us at least discuss[ed]”. Matter is “gaining such a big momentum,” and “the cameras will be big” for their adoption.
Matter 1.5 is set to introduce support for cameras, doorbells, and more energy management features, making a fully connected Matter smart home more realistic, as Matter Alpha covered months ago. We now see more progress from camera vendors like Aqara.
The firm is working with “two of our big ecosystem partners” to bring Matter camera support into the Aqara system by the end of this year or early next year. This happens faster compared to older standards, which would take “years to implement,” and is the “biggest request that we’ve seen is camera support within Matter” from users. There is a “big incentive” for partners to add this feature right away.
For Aliro, Aqara already has some testing “products internally that use this standard”. They plan to “release this to as many products as possible” as soon as more ecosystem companies start supporting the new standard, ensuring convenient use for a wider range of users.
Business solutions and lasting product support
Aqara is expanding into business-to-business (B2B) solutions. They believe their products have “real use cases value for the users,” whether for homes or businesses, valuing stability, local functions, and integrations like Apple HomeKey. Filipp explained that if they have “this technology of our products with this beautiful integration, local automations, some good design, and functional, why don’t we use them in the B2B market as well?”. With their growth, Aqara now has its own “Aqara Studio” for B2B solutions, something they were “too small to do” before.
The company also emphasized its commitment to long-lasting products, stating that “there is no real life cycle for something like this” if a device still works well. For instance, the water leak sensor, released “more than seven [years ago],” still excels in some comparison reviews nowadays for its extensive five-year battery life. This approach means that if the initial product decisions are good, “we don’t need to retire it” or relaunch products unnecessarily, as Filipp stated.
The strategy also shows on their years-old Matter-over-Thread P2 sensors, which received new firmware for spec upgrade and additional features.
More cameras and smart sensors
Looking forward, Aqara plans to “really push hard on cameras,” with “many cameras for sure in the future” expected, some of which have already been previewed as “just the beginning”.
Additionally, the company, known for being “one of the main guides to push for such a little and easy-to-use sensors with Zigbee protocol in the first place,” will be releasing “much more innovative” sensors later this year and early next year. Filipp Shved explained that some of these sensor products, which visitors could not see at IFA, were intentionally “not to be included in IFA to give the surprise”. These upcoming sensors are expected to support “Matter over Thread and potentially dual-protocol in the future.”
It really aligns with what Aqara and major competitors are doing recently, to make the transition forward from Zigbee to Matter-over-Thread, including Philips Hue, Bosch, and Aqara.
For Aqara, there are still some essential products that are missing Matter, like the high-end Presence Sensor P2, the TVOC air quality sensor, and the water leakage sensor. So hopefully, we could see a Matter version soon with a similar tiny design, reliability, and long battery life.
*Quotation in the article is condensed for clarity.
(Source: Aqara; Image source: Matter Alpha)
