Following Samsung’s CES 2023 announcement of its SmartThings Station;

Ardit Ballhysa, Technology Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:

“Samsung’s SmartThings Station, its new smart home hub, offers very little over rival offerings in the way of smart home features, leaving consumers with little reason to make the switch from their current smart home hub.

“The only exception to this is for users deep in Samsung’s ecosystem of Galaxy products and services as they will have access to SmartThings Find, a SmartThings Station feature that lets users locate all their Galaxy devices connected to the SmartThings Find service.

“The Smart Button on the hub is a feature Samsung is touting as an easy way for users to trigger routines. However, a button seems like a step backwards at a time where voice commands are standard. Furthermore, the Smart Button can only trigger up to three routines.

“While doubling as a wireless charger is a nice feature, a voice assistant is sorely lacking from Samsung’s new hub. Compatibility with Google Assistant, Alexa, or even Bixby would have made this device a lot more compelling.”