Chinese smart lighting maker Yeelight has released new hardware and firmware for its display hubs, enabling them to function as Matter Controllers in a significant step to fully embrace the open ecosystem.
From proprietary hub to open Matter controller
For years, Yeelight has heavily relied on its own proprietary Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Mesh tech for its lighting systems. The brand later added Matter support by bridging its BLE Mesh devices to other platforms via its gateway. This new update, however, is a major strategic shift, opening up Yeelight’s own platform to control third-party Matter devices.
Yeelight Pro S20 Gateway
The Yeelight Pro Gateway enhances smart lighting by connecting BLE lights to the cloud and is compatible with the Matter standard for broader device connectivity.
This new capability is built into the company’s latest hardware. As announced in June 2025, the new Yeelight Pro S series AI Smart Screen is powered by an on-device AI large language model. This enables local voice control for an innovative, local-first smart control experience. The new screen functions as a Matter Controller and a dual-protocol gateway for both BLE Mesh and OpenThread, allowing users to manage a complete smart home – including non-Yeelight products – from a single hub.
The new controller supports common Matter device types, including extended color lights, occupancy sensors, contact sensors, humidity sensors, and temperature sensors. While these new display hubs are currently selling primarily in China, Yeelight has stated it plans to release a standalone gateway with Matter Controller capabilities for the global market.
Paving the way for new Thread devices
This move marks an initial step before the firm’s upcoming launch of its first Matter-over-Thread devices. Yeelight has already received Matter and Thread certifications for new products, including a “Pro” series bulb, which will add high-quality options to the smart lighting market. The brand is well-known for its wide range of lights with a high CRI (Color Rendering Index), often 90 or above, which allows objects to show their natural, true-to-life colors.
Yeelight’s new hubs and upcoming Thread devices are of particular interest to advanced users. The new Pro S screen’s inclusion of an OpenThread Border Router (OTBR) confirms this preference. This is good news for tinkerers, as an OTBR can be managed more easily than the closed border routers from major brands, offering more flexibility to unify a home’s mesh network.
This strategy completes Yeelight’s ecosystem. The company already has popular Matter-over-Wi-Fi devices, such as the Yeelight Cube smart lamp, and has now demonstrated its use of chipsets from both Silicon Labs (for its certified Thread module) and Espressif (at IFA 2025 showcases), signalling that a full range of high-quality, good-value smart lights is likely coming very soon.
(Source: Yeelight; Image Source: Yeelight)
