Apple is taking advantage of the burgeoning Matter smart home standard with a number of new devices aimed at stealing market share from Google and Amazon.

Following the relaunch of its HomePod speakers with a larger form, Apple will introduce a low-end tablet designed solely as a smart home hub.

Although this sounds a lot like an iPad — and indeed the iPad already offers various smart hub features — Bloomberg analyst Mark Gurman notes, “the product could be mounted on walls or elsewhere using magnetic fasteners, positioning it as more of a home gadget than a regular iPad.”

Gurman points to the Echo Show and Nest Hub as examples of the standalone hub Apple will be competing with.

Apple is also discussing larger smart home displays, and have previously spoken about creating a home stand for those currently using their iPad to run their smart homes.

In preparation, Apple has refreshed its Home app, adding new climate, lights and security features.

As Gurman notes, Apple’s voice assistant Siri is trailing Amazon’s Alexa and the Google Assistant when it comes to functionality.

While these new smart home products will no doubt help the Californian giant close the gap, Apple’s adherence to the Matter standard still comes as a surprise, given the company has traditionally opted for its ‘walled garden’ approach to cross-brand compatibility.

Apple, along with hundreds of other tech companies, is a member of the Connectivity Standards Alliance, which maintains the Matter standard, so it was inevitable that the company would fall in line.

Much like new EU standards for charging cables, that have effectively ended the rein of Apple’s frustratingly incompatible Lightning Cable, it seems Apple is now aware it needs to play nice in order to carve out its corner of the smart home empire.