Much anticipated edge hub now on sale globally
Aqara teased the new Hub M3 last year and it was then subject to an official unveiling over in Vegas back in January at CES, and the good news is that it is now available to buy.
Costing $129.99 in the US and £129.99 in the UK, the Aqara Hub M3 is the Chinese brand’s first Matter controller; previous Aqara hubs have simply acted as Matter bridges to get Aqara’s plethora of smart home devices up and running with your Matter smart home.
And what’s more, the M3 it’s a Thread border router too.
So that’s the full Matter controller / Thread border router combo; which means that it’s not just native Aqara devices can be controlled, but Matter devices from third-party brands, with local control and all the bells and whistles Matter brings.
Taking things even further, and making the Hub M3 a genuine rival to the likes of the Aeotec SmartThings Hub and the Homey Pro, Aqara has also added dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and infrared into the mix as well.
Zigbee is also on board too, and the M3 can also still act as a Matter bridge for non-native Matter Aqara devices.
If you’ve already got an Aqara Zigbee hub in place, then adding an M3 to the mix really ramps things up as it will take charge of your Aqara system and allow devices to work execute on the Edge instead of over the cloud, ensuring continuous functionality even if your internet goes down.
The addition of a two-way 360° infrared blaster means you can even get your AC and AV equipment singing and dancing in your Matter smart home.
You can mount the M3 or just place it on a flat surface and it can also be powered by Power over Ethernet (PoE). It features a 95dB speaker that can be used as part of a DIY home security system.
The Aqara Hub M3 is available globally now through Amazon.
Aqara is currently offering a 20% discount for M3 until 10 May. Just use the following codes when shopping at Amazon:
- USCAHUB3 for Amazon US and Canada
- HUBM3EU5 for Amazon UK, France, Spain, Germany and Italy.