Since December of 2022, Aqara has shown a willingness to push towards a Matter future for much of its lineup, starting with a slightly delayed firmware update to the Aqara M2 hub that made it compatible with Matter, which in turn exposed (some) of the connected child devices to Matter platforms. This was recently the case with the Chinese version of the M2 hub and not just the international model.
Now the company has added another product to the list of devices to get the Matter update, albeit in beta form, with the Aqara Smart USB Wall Socket H1 (gateway edition). This device, as you might have guessed, is only available in China (at least officially), and essentially takes the place of a regular wall outlet, but with the addition of a USB port, power monitoring (mains power socket only) and a Zigbee 3.0 hub, hence the reason for the Matter update.
The Wall hub is part of the company’s H1 range, and as such is available in three finishes (grey, white, gold) to match those available for the H1 rocker switches and dimmers. Whilst the device is meant for Chinese consumers, it does go some way to allaying fears for people using Chinese hubs and servers outside of China that Matter wouldn’t make it to these devices.
Other hubs that are slated for an update (which could change) are the M1S, P3, G3, G2H Pro, and USB stick hub E1, along with a new M3 hub that will also be a Matter controller, which will give Matter devices from other manufacturers access to the Aqara ecosystem, via a forthcoming version of the Aqara Home app.