mardi 11 octobre 2022

Roku could be setting its sights on the smart home

Roku could be setting its sights on the smart home
Stack of Roku Smart Light Strip boxes.
A pile of unannounced Roku-branded light strips spotted by a Redditor. | Image: u/Negative_Source_7316 / Reddit

Roku is about to make a big entrance into the smart home if a photo posted to Reddit and two shipping manifests spotted by ZatzNotFunny are to be believed.

The unannounced lineup reportedly consists of both white and color smart bulbs, a smart light strip, a smart plug, and indoor and outdoor internet-connected security cameras. Roku also appears to be planning to launch a dedicated Roku Smart Home channel, which will presumably let users control the devices from smart TVs and streaming boxes running the company’s operating system.

As ZatzNotFunny and several Reddit commenters have pointed out, Roku appears to be leaning on smart home company Wyze to actually manufacture this hardware before slapping Roku branding onto the boxes.

Although it’s best known for inexpensive streaming boxes, Roku has been expanding its hardware offerings in recent years with soundbars, speakers, and even a subwoofer. It’s also partnered with multiple TV manufacturers to ship televisions with its streaming platform built in. But historically Roku’s hardware has at least been tangentially related to television watching, usually by improving sound quality.

There’s no word on pricing or release dates for any of these products. But given a Redditor was able to snap a photo of an entire stack of retail boxes, we suspect an official announcement might not be too far away.

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