Smart speakers are coming to Matter, but theres a big catch for Apples HomePod and more [Video]

Matter is a smart home standard focused on promoting interoperability between the various competing home ecosystems from Apple, Google, and Amazon. A new report says smart speaker support is in the works for Matter, but there’s a big catch regarding what this means for Apple users and the HomePod.

Today The Verge reported that Matter is developing ‘a new streaming speaker device type and related controls’ for its smart home system. This was confirmed by CTO Chris LaPré from the Connectivity Standards Alliance, which runs Matter.

Before you get too excited about HomePods and Amazon Echos working seamlessly together, though, there’s a key limitation coming.

Even with the forthcoming ‘streaming speaker device type,’ these popular smart speaker products won’t be included.

Instead, the feature is targeting speakers like those from Sonos, Bose, and others. Essentially, speakers that exist primarily to play music, not to control other smart home devices.

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy writes for The Verge:

Smart …