The Connectivity Standards Alliance released Matter 1.5, a major update that expands the smart home standard in several categories, most notably adding long-awaited support for smart cameras with standardized live streaming, two-way talk, and flexible storage options. The update also introduces a unified approach to closures such as shades and garage doors, simplifies support for soil sensors used in garden and lawn care, and significantly enhances energy management by enabling devices to share real-time pricing, tariff, and carbon-intensity data. Matter 1.5 further improves performance by adding TCP transport for more reliable handling of large data transfers. This update builds on earlier quality-focused releases.

Matter 1.5’s support for cameras is a critical piece in the interoperability landscape for the smart home control. Fragmentation persists as consumers routinely use multiple apps and platforms, but smart home device owners overwhelmingly want a unified experience. In fact, one of the top reasons consumers say they would switch platforms is the ability to manage all devices from a single app, with 41% willing to switch to control all smart home devices in one place and 16% willing to switch for better local control. Matter is designed to bridge these ecosystems, but until now, cameras have been the largest category still locked inside proprietary silos. Native camera support dramatically changes that dynamic by allowing a Google Nest user, for instance, to integrate more easily with an Apple Home household, or for Alexa-centric homes to mix and match camera brands without navigating multi-app setup or losing core functionality.

Video devices are the most purchased and the fastest-growing smart home category. Smart cameras saw a 4% jump in household adoption YoY, and video doorbells rose 3% YoY in Q2 2025, outpacing nearly every other category. Cameras also drive post-installation expansion: 43% of security system owners add cameras after their initial install, far more than any other add-on device. And cameras carry high value, with security, peace of mind, and family monitoring, making them the category where interoperability can add real value when video feeds can be watched on any device, on the preferred ecosystem app, or when paired with other smart home devices for routines on different ecosystems. 

Even experienced smart home users struggle to make devices work together: only 40% of smart home device owners have any devices integrated into coordinated routines, and one-third of those who attempt integrations find them difficult to create. These frictions are amplified for video products, which often limit full-functionality — especially live view, event history, and recording — to the manufacturer’s native app. As a result, a household might own four or five cameras but still rely on several apps, each with its own UI, subscription tier, and alert logic. Matter 1.5 offers a path to break that pattern by making the underlying video transport and basic functions consistent across platforms, reducing the cognitive load and setup complexity that currently discourage mainstream users.

Matter’s extension to video devices impacts a category that has long depended on proprietary ecosystems for differentiation and for revenue. Cameras anchor many of today’s subscription revenue models such as cloud storage, AI-powered detection, rich event history, and advanced analytics. Rising hardware costs are also increasing reliance on services for RMR. Smart camera average selling prices increased 11% YoY, a sharper rise than most categories in 2025, making subscription revenue even more important for sustaining margins. Meanwhile, consumers are becoming more willing to pay for intelligence layered on top of their devices-52% of U.S. internet households say they are willing to pay monthly for AI-enhanced smart home features, including advanced safety and automated detection, with security system owners showing even higher willingness. Matter reshapes this landscape by allowing more camera makers to plug into consumers’ preferred ecosystems without sacrificing innovation or service differentiation. The question is no longer whether interoperability will happen, it is which provider will own the long-term service relationship once it does.