Samsung will finally ship new SmartThings hub in September

SmartThings, which was acquired by Samsung in August last year, said in March it needed more time and had to push the launch of the hub from the second to the third quarter.  

The company said on Monday that the Samsung SmartThings Hub will be available for purchase in early September, and is available for pre-order for US$99 on the SmartThings shop, on the Samsung.com store or on Amazon.com.

The SmartThings Hub and connected sensors can be used to control the lights, thermostats and doors, and warn about things such as water leaks. It works with ZigBee and Z-Wave radios.

With the new model, processing that was previously done in the SmartThings’ cloud can instead be handled locally. Circumventing the cloud is meant to result in a much faster response time and better reliability, which are issues the company has struggled with in the past.

In addition to the new Hub, a new line of SmartThings products and an enhanced mobile app experience will arrive in the next few weeks along with an official launch announcement. At that time, more features will also be detailed, SmartThings promised.

Current users don't have to purchase the new Hub in order to continue using SmartThings in their home. But if they do, they’ll need to reconnect current devices to the new Hub. SmartThings is promising to provide detailed guidance that will make this process as easy as possible.