The smart home needed Matter , a universal language for connected devices that lets them talk to each other no matter who made them. But did it need Thread ? We already had plenty of wireless protocols for most use cases — Zigbee for lighting, Z-Wave for security systems, Bluetooth for proximity control of devices like locks, and Wi-Fi for high-bandwidth needs such as cameras. If Matter had provided a secure, simple, local way to unify those protocols, it might be in a better place today.