I’ve been following and reviewing Matter products for several years. Although most of my content is aimed at overseas audiences, my biggest frustration in daily use has been this: it’s extremely difficult to find native Matter devices in the Chinese market that meet local standards and are actually usable.

Recently, due to a planned move, I started taking stock of the smart devices needed for my new home, and identifying which parts still cannot be replaced by native Matter-supported versions (rather than gateway-based solutions). As the opening piece of this “Tinkering with Matter in China” series, I want to talk about the current pain points and possible paths forward for building a full-home Matter setup domestically.

The First Barrier: A “Dark Age” for Basic Categories

The bulk of smart home setups still revolves around basic switches and lighting. I’m also into energy management, so smart wall sockets count as well—they’re all essentially power control devices. But the reality is this: many well-known Chinese brands that are thriving in the global Matter ecosystem simply do not offer locally compliant switch panels and wall outlets for the domestic market.

In this situation, the available paths for tinkering narrow to a suffocating degree. You either gamble on obscure white-label ODM products, or take a more hardcore route: switching your entire home to EU or UK standard back boxes. While these can sometimes be adjusted to fit into Chinese wall cavities, this is far from a universal solution—you’ll also need compatible adapters and power strips. Some might suggest retrofitting traditional switches with smart relay modules, but given Matter’s current stability, I have little confidence in sealing such devices “semi-permanently” inside junction boxes. Once they go offline, you’re facing a maintenance nightmare—live disassembly, panel removal, and possibly even shutting down the entire circuit. This kind of anti-user experience clearly goes against the original intent of smart homes.

I once had a Thread-based relay completely fail inside the wall. Faced with rigid pre-installed wiring, the difficulty of disassembly was so high that I eventually gave up. It reminded me of a joke by Sheng Wang about Costco teaching us when to quit—if you can’t find parking in eight minutes, just leave. Similarly, when dealing with a Matter device that frequently disconnects and carries a high maintenance cost, sometimes the only option is to let it go.

Another, even trickier challenge is the lack of single-live-wire solutions. After speaking with several product developers, I found that manufacturers are either constrained by their focus on European and American markets—unwilling to create additional SKUs for China’s single-live-wire setups—or limited by the technical challenges of maintaining low-power Thread communication in such environments. Rewiring to add a neutral line is a permanent fix, but for most retrofit users, it’s not realistic. The more practical compromise may be to abandon switch modifications altogether and replace all traditional lights with smart bulbs. With voice control and automation in place, I might not press a physical switch more than a few times a year anyway.

In addition, Matter-enabled smart locks are almost nonexistent in the Chinese market. Most products currently available follow European or American standards. Fortunately, some manufacturers have recently hinted at upcoming solutions. Hopefully, before my move next month, there will finally be a mass-produced, China-standard Matter smart lock—ideally one that also supports Aliro, so I can unlock my door using Apple Wallet.

The Second Barrier: Triggers and Sensing—Local Options for Matter Accessories

Compared to infrastructure-level panels, trigger devices such as sensors and wireless buttons show stronger vitality in the local market. If you’re somewhat familiar with enterprise procurement channels, brands like Heiman offer Matter-over-Thread sensors that are a solid choice—compact, refined, and highly responsive. At the same time, Aqara is accelerating the expansion of its Matter product lineup in the domestic market, covering everything from sensors to lighting, and even reaching a point where some products debut faster in China than overseas, leaving behind the once frustrating “waiting period for China releases.”

However, some advanced features are often restricted to Zigbee-native modes. Under the Matter protocol, most devices currently only support basic functionality. For example, the Aqara P100 multi-dimensional sensor may be recognized merely as a simple door sensor when operating in Matter mode.

IKEA is a promising player to watch. As a global home furnishing giant, IKEA has been updating its Matter product lineup worldwide since late last year. These new products natively support Matter-over-Thread while maintaining IKEA’s signature value-for-money pricing. It is expected that within this year, Chinese users will be able to purchase these standardized smart accessories at very accessible prices in local IKEA stores, posing direct competition to Mi Home and Tuya’s white-label solutions.

The White Goods Dilemma: Big Brands Keep “Delaying”

At last year’s IFA in Berlin, I was intensely tracking new Matter products. Toward the end of the event, my boss saw someone from the Connectivity Standards Alliance post a photo of a Matter-enabled refrigerator on LinkedIn and called it his long-sought “white whale,” insisting I go check it out. Matter-compatible white goods are rare in the industry—and even rarer for consumers.

Compared to the occasional Matter-enabled air conditioners or thermostats seen in European and American markets, the domestic white goods market is almost a desert. Progress for large appliances like washing machines and dishwashers within the Matter ecosystem has been extremely slow. While I have seen prototypes of Matter-enabled fans, American-style air conditioners, and dishwashers from Midea at the Connectivity Standards Alliance showroom, these devices are mostly targeted at overseas markets or remain in the R&D stage. In domestic retail channels, they are practically nonexistent. Although manufacturers claim they are ready for upgrades, meaningful product iterations have yet to materialize.

The Ecosystem Dilemma: Choosing Between Narrow Options

The domestic market lacks a truly neutral and dominant ecosystem platform, leaving users with very limited choices. With major local platforms offering weak support for Matter, core users are forced to navigate between Apple Home and Samsung SmartThings. The former evolves slowly and even overlooks key features such as energy management introduced in Matter 1.3; the latter responds more quickly but falls short in localization—new firmware updates are often prioritized for overseas models, while domestic hubs lack clear update schedules and may lag one or two quarters behind in feature rollouts.

This “time lag” creates a significant gap in user experience. For example, the recently introduced Matter camera feature requires firmware version 59.x, yet domestic Samsung hubs took four months to receive it. This means that even if you purchase the latest hardware, you may not be able to access its core features immediately simply because you are in mainland China—effectively turning local users into “second-class citizens” within the ecosystem.

Against this backdrop, Aqara and Home Assistant show stronger potential. Aqara’s “gateway everywhere” strategy is on par with Samsung’s, and its newer hub products almost universally include built-in Matter controllers and Thread border routers, with feature sets comparable to Samsung. However, Aqara’s occasional regional restrictions remain frustrating. If Aqara were to further open up feature access in the domestic market, I would be more inclined to use it as a secondary platform for device automation over Samsung.

For hardcore enthusiasts, Home Assistant (HA) remains the fastest-moving and most flexible platform when it comes to Matter support. Backed by the Open Home Foundation, HA’s standardized support for various open protocols far exceeds that of closed commercial ecosystems. The only drawback is that deploying HA in mainland China involves significant network maintenance costs and technical complexity, making it less accessible for general users.

The good news is that HA’s founder, Paulus, visited China in March to meet with local communities and partners. In an exclusive interview with me, he revealed that they are exploring localization strategies for the Chinese market and hope to collaborate with more domestic manufacturers to promote open-protocol hardware. This offers a rare glimmer of hope for Matter enthusiasts in China.

Pricing and After-Sales: The Cost Behind Standardization

When it comes to pricing, I think there’s a common misconception that needs to be cleared up: open protocols do not equal low cost. Matter involves relatively high development and certification costs. At a time when many manufacturers are accustomed to using proprietary protocols—or cutting costs by skipping certification—Matter is not a tool for price wars. However, compared to the historically expensive “Works With” programs, Matter is already a more cost-effective solution, and the long-term value of standardization is gradually becoming evident. As IKEA’s Matter products enter the Chinese market later this year, we may finally see average prices drop closer to the level of Mi Home products.

After-sales service and stability are another long-term challenge. Matter is still in a growth phase, placing high demands on both manufacturers’ optimization capabilities and the stability of home networks. Entry-level routers costing just a few hundred yuan are unlikely to handle the concurrent requests of dozens of Matter-over-Wi-Fi devices. Meanwhile, the coexistence of Thread protocols and multiple fabrics (ecosystems) makes troubleshooting extremely complex. Without strong technical expertise, brand support teams will struggle to address the issues that arise from such a distributed system.

At this stage, building a Matter-based smart home in China is full of friction. But the vision behind it—a rare consensus among tech giants, open-source code, fully local operation, no reliance on the cloud, and seamless cross-platform interoperability—forms a foundation that gives smart homes true independence. Even if we still have to rely on hubs and bridges to fill the gaps, even if the road ahead is long and difficult, for me, the certainty of owning my home’s digital sovereignty is enough to outweigh all the current hassle and pain points.

(Image source: Nanqiao Beiqiao Bushi Qiao. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.)