Best smart home hubs to buy now, before Apple's October 13 event

Apple has confirmed a product event for October 13, teased with the line “Welcome home,” and most of the reporting around it points to one thing: Apple’s first dedicated smart home hub. If you’ve been waiting for a reason to finally commit to a hub, this might feel like the moment to sit tight. If you need one now, though, there are already several good options that don’t involve waiting for an Apple keynote to find out what you’re allowed to buy.

This guide looks at five hubs worth considering today: a smart display from Amazon, one from Google, a screen-free Matter bridge from Aqara, Samsung’s oddball charging-pad hub, and Apple’s own HomePod mini, which already does more hub duty than most people realise. Then it covers what’s actually likely to show up on October 13, and whether it’s worth holding off.

What a smart home hub actually needs to do

“Smart home hub” gets used loosely, so it’s worth being precise. A proper hub does three things: it talks to your devices using their native wireless protocol (Zigbee, Thread, or increasingly Matter over Wi-Fi), it stays on 24/7 so automations fire without a phone being involved, and ideally it bridges all of that into the ecosystem you actually use, whether that’s Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa or SmartThings.

Thread matters most right now. It’s a low-power mesh protocol built for battery-powered sensors and locks, and a hub that can act as a Thread border router extends that mesh around your house. Zigbee is the older, still-common protocol used by brands like Philips Hue and Aqara’s own sensors. Matter is the newer standard meant to make all of this interoperable, but a device still needs a “controller” nearby, which is where these hubs come in.

Some of the devices below also have a screen, a speaker, or both, which changes what you’re paying for. A plain hub is cheaper and more hidden; a smart display can act as the hub and show you camera feeds, weather, and video calls, usually for roughly double the price.

The five hubs worth considering right now

Amazon Echo Show 8 (3rd gen)

The Echo Show 8 refreshed in 2023 and is still Amazon’s best mid-size smart display. The newest mid-sized Echo smart speaker with a screen has now landed on Amazon for $149.99 Stateside and £149.99 in the UK. It has an 8-inch HD touch screen with 1280 x 800 resolution and, as a hub, it supports Zigbee, Thread, and Matter smart home protocols and has dual-band Wi-Fi that supports 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi networks. It’s confirmed to double as a proper network device too: it’s a Matter controller and also a Thread border router. At 1,034 grams and 200 x 139 x 106 millimetres, it’s not small, but the spatial audio tuning is genuinely good for the size.

Google Nest Hub (2nd gen)

Google hasn’t updated its smart display line since 2021, but the second-generation Nest Hub is still sold and still does the job for less money. The Google Nest Hub (second generation) costs $99.99 / £89.99 / €99.99. It has a 7-inch 1024 x 600 pixel display with a 1.7-inch tweeter, no camera, and 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi, Zigbee, and Bluetooth 5.0. Google’s own spec sheet confirms it also runs as a Thread border router with Matter over Wi-Fi support, which is a meaningful upgrade over the original Nest Hub. It weighs 558 grams and measures 120.4 x 177.4 x 69.5 millimetres. The lack of a camera rules out video calls, but it’s the cheapest screen-equipped hub here and it still gets Google’s security updates.

Aqara Hub M3

This is the odd one out: no screen, no voice assistant, no camera. It’s a dedicated bridge for people building a Zigbee- and Thread-heavy setup who want everything to show up cleanly in Apple Home, Google Home, or Home Assistant. Apple’s own spec page lists it at $159.99 USD, and it packs a genuinely wide radio set: Zigbee, Thread, Matter, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Ethernet with PoE and IR in one box, with support for up to 127 Thread/Zigbee devices. Aqara is explicit that it skipped a microphone and camera on purpose: designed without microphone or camera components, it ensures your data remains secure. European retailers list it for roughly €150, though that’s a retail price rather than an official Aqara EU figure.

Samsung SmartThings Station

Samsung’s hub is really a wireless phone charger with a Matter brain built in. The bare unit is $59.99, or $79.99 for the SKU that includes a USB-C power adapter, and it’s a complete Matter-certified controller and Thread border router, with support for Zigbee, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi devices, though Z-Wave support has been dropped. It charges a phone at up to 15W on top, which is a nice two-in-one if you already live in the Samsung ecosystem. The catch: it’s a US-only product at list price, so UK and EU buyers will have a harder time finding it through official channels.

Apple HomePod mini

People forget the HomePod mini is also a hub. It has Wi-Fi 4, Bluetooth 5.0, Thread, and UWB built in, and Apple’s own footnotes list it as a smart home hub for Apple Home, meaning it acts as a Thread border router for HomeKit accessories without you doing anything extra. Pricing moved recently: Apple raised the price from $99 to $129 in June 2026, which 9to5Mac reported was tied to steep growth in memory and storage component costs affecting Apple’s wider lineup. In the EU, Apple’s own Irish store lists it at €139. If you already own HomeKit gear and want a hub with Siri and decent sound attached, it’s the path of least resistance, even if it’s not the cheapest way to get Thread coverage anymore.

Spec comparison

Model	Price	Display	Protocols	Best known for
Amazon Echo Show 8 (3rd gen)	$149.99 / £149.99	8-inch, 1280×800	Zigbee, Thread, Matter, Wi-Fi	Alexa households, video calls
Google Nest Hub (2nd gen)	$99.99 / €99.99	7-inch, 1024×600	Zigbee, Thread, Matter, Wi-Fi	Cheapest screen hub
Aqara Hub M3	$159.99 (~€150 retail)	None	Zigbee, Thread, Matter, Ethernet, IR	Widest radio support, no screen
Samsung SmartThings Station	$59.99 / $79.99	None	Thread, Matter, Zigbee, Wi-Fi	Cheapest Matter entry point
Apple HomePod mini	$129 / €139	None	Thread, Wi-Fi 4	Apple Home households

Best for… budget and use case

Tightest budget: the SmartThings Station. At $59.99 for the bare unit it’s the cheapest way into Matter and Thread, and the wireless charging pad is a genuine bonus rather than a gimmick. The trade-off is no screen and US-only retail availability.

Already deep in Apple Home: the HomePod mini. It’s not the cheapest Thread hub on this list, but if you own HomeKit accessories already, adding one gives you a border router and Siri without buying a second device. Just know Apple raised the price once this year, so don’t expect a discount soon.

Want a screen without spending much: the Google Nest Hub (2nd gen). At $99.99 it’s the least expensive smart display here, and it still functions as a genuine Thread border router rather than just a speaker with a screen bolted on.

Mixed ecosystem, lots of Zigbee gear already: the Aqara Hub M3. The combination of Zigbee coordinator, Thread border router, Matter bridge, Ethernet and an IR blaster in one box is hard to match, and the lack of a microphone or camera is a feature if privacy is a concern, not a missing checkbox.

Want the screen and the best audio: the Echo Show 8. It costs more than the Nest Hub but the bigger display and markedly better speaker make it worth the difference if Alexa is your assistant of choice.

Buy now or wait: Apple’s Welcome Home event

Apple has officially announced a special event for Tuesday, October 13, teasing its next product announcements with the tagline “Welcome home,” with Apple marketing chief Greg Joswiak confirming the date and invitations describing an “Apple Experience” taking place in Tribeca, New York. This is rumour territory for specifics, but it’s well-sourced rumour: Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has reported the centrepiece is Apple’s first dedicated smart home hub, internally code-named J490, with a roughly 6-inch square display mounted on a domed base and the ability to recognize household members and show personalized content, alongside a second wall-mountable version code-named J491. Some reports put the screen closer to 7 inches, so treat the exact size as unconfirmed until Apple says otherwise.

Gurman’s reporting also notes this hub was originally scheduled for spring 2025 but faced repeated delays tied to Apple’s Siri overhaul, so “rumoured” comes with a long track record of slipping dates behind it.

Alongside the hub, expect a refreshed HomePod mini. Multiple reports describe a refresh that retains its current physical design while adding new color options, an N1 networking chip for improved Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and a faster S-series processor, which would be the first new HomePod mini since the original launched in 2020. A new Apple TV 4K is also expected, reportedly gaining an A17 Pro chip or newer, 8GB of RAM, an Apple-designed N1 chip with Wi-Fi 7 support, and a revised Siri Remote. None of this is official until Apple’s keynote lands, and pricing for the hub itself is pure speculation at this point, with one report guessing it could land around $350, which should be treated as a rumour, not a number to plan around.

Whether to wait depends on what you need. If you’re buying a basic Thread or Matter bridge to support sensors and locks you already own, nothing about Apple’s hub changes that calculation: it’s an Apple Home product first, and it won’t replace a Zigbee coordinator for non-Apple gear. If you specifically want a kitchen-counter display with Siri and FaceTime built in, and you’re not in a rush, it’s worth waiting two weeks to see actual pricing and specs rather than guessing.

What this means for you

If you need Thread or Matter coverage today, buy the SmartThings Station or the Aqara Hub M3 and don’t wait: Apple’s hub is an Apple Home product, not a universal bridge, so it won’t make either of these redundant. If you want a screen and already use Alexa, the Echo Show 8 is the safer buy over the Nest Hub, since Google hasn’t refreshed its display since 2021 and there’s no indication a replacement is imminent. If you’re all-in on Apple Home and only need a basic hub, a HomePod mini at today’s $129/€139 price does the job; don’t buy one purely to get ahead of October 13, since the rumoured hub is a different kind of device aimed at being a household control screen, not a straight replacement. Hold off only if what you actually want is Apple’s own screen-equipped hub and FaceTime-on-the-fridge experience: that’s the one product on this list that doesn’t exist yet.

Best smart home hubs to buy now, before Apple’s October 13 event