Samsung’s SmartThings is expanding its range of smart home tech today, with a number of new products, that are all much more affordable than its competitors’ offerings.
In today’s announcement, SmartThings announced the SmartThings Cam for $89.99, the SmartThings WiFi Smart Plug for $17.99 and the SmartThings Smart Bulb for $9.99. And of course, these will all support the existing SmartThings ecosystem.
Much like other SmartThings products, these will all work with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Samsung’s Bixby assistant. The SmartThings Smart Bulb does also need Zigbee 3.0 for connectivity, as it does need to be connected to a hub.
First up is the SmartThings Cam. Now since it is much cheaper than most other smart cameras out there, it does cut a few corners. But it does still offer up 1080p video with HDR support. There’s IR for night vision, two-way audio, person detection and there is also 145-degree field of view. SmartThings also offers up 24-hour cloud storage backup, for free and it’ll work for up to four cameras. There is an option to for a 30-day backup and up to eight cameras for $7.99 per month of $79.99 per year. This will also work really well with Samsung’s other products like the FamilyHub refrigerator.
The SmartThings WiFi Smart Plug, is pretty straightforward. It’s a smart plug that you can control with your voice or with the SmartThings app. It’s also one of those “mini” smart plugs. Basically, it’s small enough so that it does not cover up the other outlet on the wall. These smart plugs usually go for around $30, but SmartThings is offering essentially the same smart plug for around $18.
Finally, we have the SmartThings Smart Bulb. This $10 smart bulb is not that flashy. It doesn’t do colors, and it only does a warm white color (about 2700K). It can be dimmed however, but it cannot be tuned to other shades of white. It is still pretty bright at 806 lumens, but you’ll save some cash on energy since it is a 9-watt light bulb. It does need to be connected to a Zigbee 3.0 hub, like the Amazon Echo Plus, though.
It’s clear that with this announcement of these new devices, that SmartThings is looking to compete with its competitors by lowering the prices on its products. Getting into the smart home industry can be pretty expensive. Say you want to get some smart bulbs for your home, at $40 each, it’s going to cost hundreds to turn every light into a smart light in your home. But at just $10 each, it’s much cheaper.
On an interesting note, usually the WiFi smart plugs are the cheapest smart home product. That’s not the case with SmartThings, as its new Smart Bulb is even cheaper. The Smart Plug does undercut Amazon’s own smart plug that was already undercutting everyone else. Basically, SmartThings is bringing competition to the market, and that’s going to end well for consumers. Getting cheaper and better products in the long run.
These products are all available today from Samsung’s own website, using the link below.
Samsung SmartThings