It’s another year of Matter Open Day, hosted by the CSA Member Group China, and this year’s event felt noticeably bigger than previous editions. More companies brought live demos instead of concept slides, while booth space was increasingly occupied by complete Matter product portfolios rather than individual showcase devices.
Walking around the show floor, one thing became clear. Matter and Thread are no longer experimental options. Traditional Zigbee vendors are expanding almost every product line with Thread, while newer manufacturers are building Thread-first ecosystems from the beginning. Alongside finished products, the event also featured early prototypes, commercial solutions, and a Matter 1.6 demo that offer a glimpse of where the ecosystem is heading.
Here are the products and solutions that stood out.
ThirdReality expands its Thread lineup
ThirdReality continues to be one of the fastest companies expanding its Matter over Thread portfolio.
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Read more about our ethics policyThirdReality Smart Switch MT1
A smart, retrofit solution for automating toggle or rocker light switches, offering both mechanical and wireless control via Matter Over Thread.
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Read more about our ethics policySmart Night Light -T
Alongside its existing Thread products, the company demonstrated several new prototypes, including colorful smart buttons, US smart plugs, and a new soil sensor based on the design of its existing Zigbee model.
The smart button was particularly impressive in a live Home Assistant demonstration. Single press, double press, and long press events were reported almost instantly, feeling close to the physical limits of pressing the button itself.
The soil sensor would largely follow the design of the existing Zigbee model while exposing temperature and humidity through Matter. During a conversation with Matter Alpha, Third Reality also expressed interest in exposing the official Matter Soil Moisture Sensor device type as an additional endpoint for supported platforms like Home Assistant, although the device features have not been finalized.
Onvis finally adds power monitoring
HomeKit accessory maker Onvis showcased an updated S4 family of Matter over Thread smart plugs and sockets.
The biggest addition is power monitoring, bringing energy reporting to its latest models for the US, EU, and UK markets.
The redesigned EU plug also adopts a cleaner all-white appearance compared with previous generations, while the company plans to laser engrave product labels directly onto future retail units for easier identification.
All models support Matter 1.4 alongside Thread 1.4 and are expected to launch later this year.
Aqara new H1 light strips
Aqara also brought its recently announced H1 light strip controller and matching light strip to the event.
The controller follows Aqara’s familiar industrial design while delivering up to 20 A of output across four RGBW channels, making it suitable for longer custom lighting installations and higher-power LED strips. It supports 12-24 V lighting systems, giving users flexibility across different strip configurations.
The light strip is offered as a bare PCB, making it easier to integrate into custom installations. Users can simply pair it with third-party silicone diffusers or aluminum profiles depending on their application.
For the LED arrangement, rather than grouping identical LEDs together, each color sits closely alongside the others, producing softer color blending that feels better suited to living spaces than the strong RGB effects commonly seen in gaming setups.
Aqara is still keeping global availability under wraps but hinted that more products are on the way.
Yeelight brings Thread back
Yeelight previously gave Matter Alpha an early look at its first Matter over Thread lighting products. Matter Open Day marked the first time much of the lineup was shown publicly together.
The company displayed new ceiling lights, reading lamps, bulbs, light strips, night lights, and a Matter lighting controller, all built around Espressif’s ESP32-H2 platform.
The ceiling light stood out for another reason.
Unlike many competitors, Yeelight exposes both the primary light and the decorative backlight as separate Matter endpoints. That allows users to control each lighting zone independently of Matter platforms instead of restricting the secondary lighting to the manufacturer’s own app.
Thread ceiling lights are still relatively uncommon. Recent releases from companies such as Govee, Nanoleaf, and SwitchBot continue relying on Wi-Fi, making Yeelight’s approach a welcome addition to the growing Thread lighting ecosystem.
The company is also preparing a new Matter blind motor for the global market.
Changsha Xizhen targets commercial HVAC
Beyond the consumer lighting products on display, Changsha Xizhen Electronics showcased a range of Matter climate controllers designed for air conditioners, fresh air systems, and VRF installations.
Rather than replacing existing HVAC equipment, the controllers are designed to bring traditional systems into Matter ecosystems, similar to what smart thermostats do for residential heating and cooling. The lineup is aimed more at commercial buildings and larger installations where dedicated controllers are commonly deployed.
The company also demonstrated a Matter over Thread presence sensor combining a 24 GHz mmWave radar, PIR sensor, temperature, humidity, and ambient light sensing. The hardware resembles products such as Aqara’s FP300, but targets commercial automation scenarios where a single sensor can provide both occupancy detection and environmental monitoring.
Commercial Matter continues to grow
Consumer devices weren’t the only focus.
Heffeix demonstrated a complete commercial Matter deployment built primarily around Thread.
The company showcased Matter controllers, Thread Border Routers powered by both Ethernet and DC, and a complete device ecosystem capable of integrating third-party products such as IKEA remotes and light bulbs.
According to the company, each border router can manage dozens of Thread devices, while larger installations can scale beyond one thousand devices by adding additional border routers.
Much of the solution is based on Espressif’s ESP32-H2 platform according to the company.
Matter 1.6 hardware is already arriving
Although Matter 1.6 was only released recently, hardware vendors are already preparing solutions around its new capabilities.
STMicroelectronics demonstrated NFC commissioning for Matter devices, enabling battery-free tap-to-pair experiences for Matter over Wi-Fi products.
Because relatively few wireless chipset vendors provide integrated NFC, solutions like these are expected to play an important role as manufacturers begin adopting Matter 1.6.
Module supplier HOPERF went one step further by showing a ready-to-use hardware platform that already integrates the new functionality, potentially making NFC commissioning easier for smaller smart home manufacturers to adopt.
Testing moves closer to the real world
Certification laboratory Resillion demonstrated an interesting automated testing platform.
Instead of relying solely on traditional certification environments, the system automates real smartphones to commission and control Matter devices while collecting performance data.
That allows manufacturers to measure onboarding speed, command latency, and commissioning success rates under conditions much closer to how users actually interact with Matter devices at home.
While the system is designed for manufacturers rather than consumers, it reflects another sign of the ecosystem maturing beyond basic certification toward improving the overall user experience.
*Affliation note: CSA China covered the travel expense.
(Image: Matter Alpha/Ward Zhou, CSA China)
