Xiaomi will release first Aqara sensors with Thread support later this year

Xiaomi will release Aqara sensors later this year that support the Thread smart home standard. The door and window sensors and the motion sensor will be released in the second half of the year. The Zigbee hubs will also receive support for Matter.

Initially, the company will only release those two specific sensors. Aqara, a subsidiary of Xiaomi, makes many more sensors, such as a water sensor and a temperature meter, but Xiaomi does not report anything about an upgrade. Because the devices support Thread, they are more reliable, according to the manufacturer, and they last a long time on a single button cell battery.

Thread is a relatively new connection protocol that will work with Matter, the new smart home standard that major companies such as Apple, Google and Amazon want to further support in the future. By supporting Thread, Matter users will also be able to use Aqara sensors in their network in the future.

Aqara previously indicated that it wanted to provide the Aqara hubs with Matter support. The company now says that will be coming to the M2 and older M1S hubs via an over-the-air update, but it’s not yet known when that will happen. After that update, users will be able to use Thread and Zigbee devices side by side on the hubs.