There are a total of nine new device types covered by the new Matter 1.2 standard. Besides those mentioned above, they include dishwashers, smoke and CO alarms, air quality sensors, air purifiers, room air conditioners, and fans.
The launch of Matter 1.2 comes a year after the launch of Matter 1.0, the first release from the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), an industry-backed coalition that counts 675 companies among its members including Big Tech firms like Apple, Google, Samsung and Amazon.
The Matter standard allows for interoperability between smart home devices, meaning that a Samsung speaker could be controlled by a Google smart home operating system.
With the launch of the new standard, CSA is making good on its promise to release two updates per year (In April, Matter 1.1 was released).
According to CSA, the Matter 1.0 spec has been downloaded 24,600 since its launch, and there have been more than 1,200 certifications of devices as Matter-enabled.
CSA also said there had been nearly 24 percent growth in the number of companies who have joined the Matter Working Group, and a new Alliance Interoperability Test Facility.
The release of Matter 1.2 will also bring improvements to the testing and certification program for Matter, including making the Matter Test Harness open source, allowing Matter developers to contribute to the tools, and ensure they are working with the latest version.