The Hub in the Age of Matter: Why Zigbee & Z-Wave Still Need a Translator

In the modern smart home, the “hub” has become a confusing concept. A decade ago, it was simple: you needed a central brain to get your smart devices to talk to each other. But today, with the rise of Wi-Fi-enabled devices and the new universal Matter protocol, the dedicated, puck-shaped hub seems like a relic.

If you can control your lights from Google Home and your lock from Alexa, why would you still need a device like the Samsung SmartThings Hub 3rd Generation [GP-U999SJVLGDA]?

The answer is simple: the hub’s job has changed. It’s no longer the “brain” of your smart home; it’s the official “translator.” And in a world with decades of existing technology, a good translator is essential. This is a deconstruction of what a hub does in the modern, Matter-driven era.

The Two “Languages” That Aren’t Wi-Fi

The first “smart” devices were a mess. Every company used its own proprietary protocol. To solve this, two low-power standards emerged as dominant forces: Zigbee and Z-Wave.

These are not Wi-Fi. They are low-power, “mesh” radio protocols designed specifically for smart home devices.

• Why not just use Wi-Fi? A Wi-Fi-enabled smart plug is simple, but it has two problems: 1) It’s “chatty” and can clog up your home Wi-Fi network, and 2) It’s power-hungry, making it terrible for battery-powered devices like motion or door sensors.
• The Mesh Solution: Zigbee and Z-Wave devices create their own separate network. Each device can talk to its neighbor, “hopping” a signal from one to the next until it reaches the hub. This is incredibly reliable and requires very little power, allowing a door sensor to last for years on a single coin battery.

This created a new problem. Your phone and Wi-Fi router don’t speak Zigbee or Z-Wave. You need a device that can act as a bridge. This was the job of the smart home hub.

The Rise of the “Translator”: A SmartThings Case Study

In the late 2010s, a “hub war” broke out. The SmartThings Hub (particularly the 3rd Gen) famously won against competitors like Wink because it was the best translator. It contained radios for both Zigbee and Z-Wave, plus Wi-Fi and Ethernet.

It became the “Rosetta Stone” of the smart home, allowing you to buy a Z-Wave lock, a Zigbee motion sensor, and a Wi-Fi bulb, and get them all to work together in a single app. This is why 2019 and 2020 reviews praise it as a “game changer.” It brought order to the chaos.

The Big Shift: From Samsung to Aeotec

If the Samsung hub was so successful, why is it so hard to buy a Samsung-branded hub today?

Because in 2020, Samsung made a brilliant pivot. They realized their core strength was the SmartThings platform and app—the software “brain” with over 50,000 monthly searches—not the low-margin hardware.

Samsung stopped manufacturing the hardware itself and licensed its production to Aeotec, a highly respected German smart home company. If you search for a SmartThings hub today, you will find the “Aeotec Smart Home Hub.” This device is the official, modern successor to the 3rd Gen Samsung Hub. It runs the exact same SmartThings software, but on newer, Aeotec-branded hardware. This is the crucial missing piece of the puzzle that keywords (like aeotec smart home hub) reveal.

The Hub’s New Job: A “Matter Bridge” for Your Old Gear

The final piece is Matter. Matter is the new, universal smart home standard designed to finally kill the hub. In a Matter-native world, your new Google Nest speaker can talk directly to your new Apple HomeKit lock without any hub at all.

So, the hub is finally dead, right?

Not quite. Matter is the future, but what about the past? What about the millions of excellent, reliable Zigbee and Z-Wave devices you already own? Matter can’t talk to them.

This creates the hub’s new, and perhaps most important, job: to act as a Matter Bridge.

The modern SmartThings platform (running on a 3rd Gen Hub or the new Aeotec hub) acts as this bridge. It “translates” your old Z-Wave lock into the Matter standard. This allows your brand-new, Matter-only Google Home or Apple HomePod to control your five-year-old Zigbee sensor.

Conclusion: Why the “Brain” Is Still Essential

The Samsung SmartThings Hub 3rd Generation [GP-U999SJVLGDA] was a landmark device because it perfected the “hub-as-translator” model. It wasn’t the “brain”—the SmartThings App was, and still is, the brain.

Today, that hub’s role is even more critical. While you can build a 2025 smart home using only Wi-Fi and Matter devices, you are abandoning the vast, reliable, and low-power ecosystems of Zigbee and Z-Wave.

A hub—whether it’s the original 3rd Gen or its modern Aeotec successor—is the key. It’s the only device that can bridge the old and the new, translating the two most important languages of the “classic” smart home into the universal language of the future.