CES 2017: Mixtile Hub Promises to Expand HomeKit to ZigBee and Z-Wave Smart Home Devices

by

Focalcrest, a Chinese company focusing on intelligent hardware solutions, today debuted a new HomeKit hub that promises to bring HomeKit connectivity to various connected home products that would not otherwise be able to interface with Apple's smart home platform.

The Mixtile Hub, which is MFi certified by Apple, is designed to connect to ZigBee and Z-Wave products and interface with HomeKit, allowing them to be controlled in via Siri and with Apple's Home app.

mixtile1
The hub plugs into a television set, which is used as a display to allow users to discover smart devices located in the home. From the television, the devices can be connected to the hub, and an accompanying smart phone app allows users to designate what a product does so that it can be used appropriately through HomeKit.

mixtile3
According to Focalcrest, it can interface with Z-Wave and ZigBee products, as well as connect to various smart home devices through Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Focalcrest did not provide specific examples of the kinds of hardware the hub can work with, so there are some unknowns with the product at this point in time.

The Mixtile Hub supports wireless communication protocols such as ZigBee, Z-Wave (optional), Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. It can also communicate with various other sensors (temperature and humidity sensors, optical sensors, door sensors) surveillance devices (monitors, alarms, intelligent locks) and smart home products (intelligent lamps, outlets and air conditioners), through ZigBee and Z-Wave.

Several existing hub-based HomeKit products work the same way as the Mixtile Hub, such as the Philips Hue. The Philips Hue base station is HomeKit enabled, while all bulbs connect to and receive commands from the base station using the ZigBee protocol.

ZigBee and Z-Wave are popular options for smart home products that don't support HomeKit. Many home security companies use Z-Wave, as do some major brands like Honeywell, GE, Schlage, D-Link, and First Alert. A wide range of connected home products use ZigBee, like the Logitech Harmony Remote, Cree lightbulbs, GE lightbulbs, and more.

Hardware wise, the hub is equipped with a quad-core processor, 1GB RAM, and 8GB of storage space. It has a built in 2,500mAh battery, dual microphones, an Ethernet port, an HDMI port, a micro-USB port, and a USB 2.0 port.

mixtile2
Focalcrest says the Mixtile Hub will be priced at approximately $150, and it will tentatively see a release sometime around March of 2017.

Tags: CES 2017, HomeKit Guide, Mixture Hub

Popular Stories

2024 iPhone Boxes Feature

Apple Adjusts Trade-In Values for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and More

Thursday November 6, 2025 11:12 am PST by
Apple today updated its trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models. Trade-ins can be completed on Apple's website, or at an Apple Store. The charts below provide an overview of Apple's current and previous trade-in values in the U.S., according to its website. Maximum values for most devices either decreased or saw no change, but the iPad Air received a slight bump. ...
Read Full Article • 71 comments
Liquid Glass General Feature

Apple Shares Liquid Glass Design Gallery

Thursday November 6, 2025 2:45 pm PST by
Apple is promoting the new Liquid Glass design in iOS 26, showing off the ways that third-party developers are embracing the aesthetic in their apps. On its developer website, Apple is featuring a visual gallery that demonstrates how "teams of all sizes" are creating Liquid Glass experiences. The gallery features examples of Liquid Glass in apps for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac. Apple...
Read Full Article • 118 comments
iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Available Now With These 8 New Features

Monday November 3, 2025 5:54 am PST by
Following more than a month of beta testing, Apple released iOS 26.1 on Monday, November 3. The update includes a handful of new features and changes, including the ability to adjust the look of Liquid Glass and more. Below, we outline iOS 26.1's key new features. Liquid Glass Toggle iOS 26.1 lets you choose your preferred look for Liquid Glass. In the Settings app, under Display...
Read Full Article
airtag purple

Apple's Website Lists AirTag 4-Pack at Shockingly Low Price [Updated]

Friday November 7, 2025 6:40 am PST by
Apple's online store in the U.S. is suddenly offering a pack of four AirTags for just $29, which is the same price as a single AirTag. This is likely a pricing error, and it is unclear if orders will be fulfilled. Apple has not discounted the AirTag four-pack in any other countries that we checked. Delivery estimates are already pushing into late November to early December, suggesting...
Read Full Article • 96 comments
Finder Siri Feature

Apple's New Siri Will Be Powered By Google Gemini

Wednesday November 5, 2025 11:57 am PST by
The smarter, more capable version of Siri that Apple is developing will be powered by Google Gemini, reports Bloomberg. Apple will pay Google approximately $1 billion per year for a 1.2 trillion parameter artificial intelligence model that was developed by Google. For context, parameters are a measure of how a model understands and responds to queries. More parameters generally means more...
Read Full Article • 369 comments
apple watch se 3 always on

Apple to Remove iPhone-Apple Watch Wi-Fi Sync in EU With iOS 26.2

Thursday November 6, 2025 4:37 am PST by
Apple in iOS 26.2 will disable automatic Wi-Fi network syncing between iPhone and Apple Watch in the European Union to comply with the bloc's regulations, suggests a new report. Normally, when an iPhone connects to a new Wi-Fi network, it automatically shares the network credentials with the paired Apple Watch. This allows the watch to connect to the same network independently – for...
Read Full Article • 217 comments
ikea smart home devices

IKEA Debuts 21 HomeKit-Compatible Smart Bulbs, Sensors, and Controls

Thursday November 6, 2025 4:08 pm PST by
IKEA today announced the upcoming launch of 21 new Matter-compatible smart home products that will be able to interface with HomeKit and the Apple Home app. There are sensors, lights, and control options, all of which will be reasonably priced. Some of the products are new, while some are updates to existing lines that IKEA previously offered. There are a series of new smart bulbs that are...
Read Full Article • 74 comments
Home Hub Command Center with Dome Base Feature

Apple's 2026 Smart Home Revamp: All the Rumors

Wednesday November 5, 2025 3:54 pm PST by
It's been over a decade since Apple's HomeKit smart home platform launched, and it is overdue for an update. HomeKit and the Home app can no longer keep up with AI-powered solutions from other companies like Google and Amazon, but that's set to change with a smart home revamp that Apple has planned for 2026. Home Hub Apple is working on a home hub or "command center" that will serve as a...
Read Full Article • 56 comments
apple tv logo physical

New Apple TV Intro Was Made With Practical Effects

Thursday November 6, 2025 7:02 am PST by
The all-new intro sequence for Apple TV was made with practical effects and shot in-camera, Ad Age reports. Rather than using digital techniques, the new sequence was made by shooting large glass versions of the Apple TV logo, with physical motion and changing lighting used to create effects. Apple partnered with TBWA\Media Arts Lab to create the intro. Ad Age released an exclusive look...
Read Full Article • 116 comments

Top Rated Comments

AngerDanger Avatar
AngerDanger
115 months ago
I wonder how people in the comments are going to twist this article to make bad comments about Tim Cook.
Let me take a crack at it.
Mixtile Hub Promises to Expand HomeKit to ZigBee and Z-Wave Smart Home Devices
A third party device shouldn't be required to connect non-HomeKit devices with HomeKit. Maybe if Tim "bean counter" Cook would actually try to innovate or get fired, this wouldn't be the terrible, horrible, awful, bad, no good issue that it is. Also, Tim Cook killed my dog once! (He wasn't involved in the other killings.)
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
EdT Avatar
EdT
115 months ago
I wonder how people in the comments are going to twist this article to make bad comments about Tim Cook.
Someone beat me to it, but:

[LIST=1]
* It took a Chinese company to add on the functionality that should have been there out of the box.
* Fire Tim Cook.
* Samsung already did this. Apple has lost all innovation.
* Someone should fire Tim Cook.
* Google has already done this. Apple is years behind the competition.
* So Fire Tim Cook.
* Android.
* Fire Cook.

I do have to admit I have taken part in some of the Apple bashing going on lately, although I blame the company as a whole and not one man.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ChrisCW11 Avatar
ChrisCW11
115 months ago
So yet another 3rd party filling in the gaps of Apples lack of innovation or cooperation with the tech industry.

Don't get me wrong, HomeKit is a good idea, but promoting it as the only way your Siri enabled device will talk to home automation devices is short sighted. There are a lot of products that work together without licensing a proprietary sdk, Echo for instance can work with Philips Hue or Nest thermostats without Amazon imposing its own intellectual property on other companies and forcing them to work the way Amazon warns them to work. Instead Echo adapted to work with other products, even products that came out years before it like Nest.

Apple wants you to have to rebuy products to work with its platform, and I don't like that. I'm not in the habit of buying $300 thermostats whenever someone happens to support Apples platform. And Apple has a long history of deprecating technology to promote a new platform on a whim, I wouldn't be surprised if all HomeKit devices today no longer work in a few years when HomeKIt 2.0 comes out or Apple decides home automation is absurd because they failed to make it captivating.

While HomeKit might be the AAA solution for Siri support in the home today, there is no reason for Apple to not play nice with other platforms and protocols. I mean it can only be a win/win for Apple to empower more devices with Siri, even if they begrudgingly have to use a third party protocol, yet Apple's constant walled garden approach to innovation is why their platform has been slow to establish in the home while Alexa has taken off far more quickly.

So, the idea of a third party box acting as a mediator between Siri and the rest of the world is attractive, but it's a shame you need to, once again, glom on another box, dongle, or add-on to make Apple work better for you in the real world.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tasset Avatar
tasset
115 months ago
I want this. REALLY BAD. I have been halfway surprised nobody has made this yet, then again not so surprising as it seems every manufacturer has an outsized value of themselves and think they are a platform. (Wink, Wemo, etc etc).
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iapplelove Avatar
iapplelove
115 months ago
I'm slowly moving backward with technology. The more I know the less I desire a "smart" life.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AJ5790 Avatar
AJ5790
115 months ago
eh why bother with home kit. Get an amazon echo or a google home
Yeah, why does the security of a device IN YOUR HOME matter at all... meh, just go with the devices that can become great botnet candidates. Excellent choice.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments