Mixed in among the excitement at Samsung’s Galaxy S8 launch on Wednesday, the company also announced a new mesh Wi-Fi system that doubles as a SmartThings Hub for smart home devices.
The Samsung Connect Home Smart Wi-Fi System is similar to other mesh systems such as Google Wi-Fi; it starts as a single unit that functions as a router and then you can add more devices that expand the signal of the network.
What sets this mesh router apart, however, is the built-in SmartThings Hub functionality. Samsung acquired SmartThings in 2014. Instead of getting a separate SmartThings hub to manage all your smart home devices, such as a Honeywell Lyric thermostat and Philips Hue lights, the Samsung Connect Home Smart system can do it for you. The mesh units are compatible with Zigbee and Z-Wave, and also come packing Bluetooth 4.1.
There’s a 4×4 Mu-Mimo mesh Wi-Fi router built-in featuring dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi at 866Mbps. It’s also got 512MB of RAM, 4GB of onboard storage, and a 710MHz quad-core processor at its heart, as reported by Engadget. There’s also a Pro version that will support quad-band 802.11ac (AC2600) Wi-Fi and comes with a 1.7Ghz processor. Both the Pro and the regular Samsung Connect systems have a range of 1,500 square feet.
Samsung has yet to announce pricing or availability, but theConnect Home Wi-Fi mesh system will be sold individually and in a three-pack.
The impact on you at home: We don’t know yet if pricing will be similar to other mesh Wi-Fi solutions, but it will likely be more expensive thanks to the built-in SmartThings Hub. Factoring in the cost of buying a mesh router system and a Smart Thing Hub could end up being cheaper in the long run even if it is more expensive than the competition. That’s all speculation until Samsung announces pricing, however.