Apple builds its home range on Thread and Matter, Iridium moves into Altair's IoT chips, and SEALSQ previews a post-quantum secure element

Apple’s first own-brand home accessories run on Thread

On 13 October, Apple announced the Apple Home Collection, a lineup of smart home accessories developed with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric. LG supplies a video doorbell, a floodlight camera, outdoor and indoor cameras, a smart deadbolt lock, a thermostat and a temperature sensor; Schneider Electric supplies a second thermostat and a room sensor. Apple states that “every device supports Thread”, that the lock “is Matter compatible and supports Aliro” and works locally without an internet connection, and that both thermostats and the temperature and humidity sensors are Matter compatible. Setup uses NFC pairing with an iPhone running the latest operating system software, and additional features need a home hub such as the new Apple HomeView, a HomePod or an Apple TV. U.S. starting prices run from $39.95 for the sensors to $399.95 for the floodlight camera. The range goes on sale in December, with select accessories following in early 2027; the cameras are listed for the U.S., Canada and the UK, the lock, thermostats and sensors for the U.S. and Canada.

Why it matters: When the company that sells the phone also sells the lock and the thermostat, it decides what “default” looks like for a large slice of the market. Choosing Thread for every device, and Matter for the lock, climate and sensor products, signals that Apple sees the open stack as good enough for its own hardware, not just for third parties. The gaps are telling too: the release does not list the cameras or the doorbell as Matter compatible, so for now there is no stated way to use them with other ecosystems. Aliro on the lock puts the access-credential standard backed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance into a mass-market product. For how the pieces fit, see Matter explained and Thread explained.

Iridium NTN Direct moves onto Altair’s cellular IoT chipsets

On 14 October, Iridium announced that Altair Semiconductor is integrating Iridium NTN Direct into its ALT1350 and next-generation ALT1550 chipsets. The ALT1350 is an ultra-low-power LTE-M and NB-IoT chipset aimed at uses such as asset tracking, smart metering, agriculture, vehicle telematics and remote infrastructure; the ALT1550 is a 5G eRedCap chipset aimed at AI-powered devices such as smart glasses and wearables. With terrestrial cellular and Iridium satellite connectivity on one chipset, device makers would not need a separate satellite modem. Iridium NTN Direct uses Iridium’s low Earth orbit constellation and globally coordinated L-band spectrum, and is designed for NB-IoT and direct-to-device applications on 3GPP-based chipsets. The release gives no date for commercial availability.

Why it matters: For the third issue running, a satellite operator is betting on standard cellular IoT silicon rather than proprietary terminals, after Sateliot’s launch and Skylo’s Brazil deal. For a product team, the attraction is a single bill of materials and a single certification path, with satellite IoT as a fallback mode of an NB-IoT radio. Iridium’s pitch rests on a constellation that is already fully operational and on globally coordinated L-band spectrum, rather than on capacity still to be launched. The open question is power: a satellite link budget is far tighter than a terrestrial one, and battery life on the satellite leg will decide which use cases are practical. See NB-IoT and LTE-M explained for the terrestrial baseline.

SEALSQ previews a post-quantum secure element for meters and gateways

On 12 October, SEALSQ unveiled the VaultIC409, a secure element built on its QS7001 platform, which the company says is undergoing Common Criteria EAL5+ certification. The chip supports the NIST post-quantum algorithms ML-KEM (FIPS 203) for key establishment and ML-DSA (FIPS 204) for signatures, alongside RSA and ECC for hybrid schemes, with a dedicated hardware accelerator and an SPI interface to move the larger keys and certificates between the chip and its host. SEALSQ targets smart meters, industrial gateways, communication equipment and cloud-connected IoT devices, and says the design supports evolving Cyber Resilience Act requirements and the transition toward CNSA 2.0. A TLS 1.3 demonstration is planned for electronica in Munich, 10 to 13 November, and engineering samples are planned for Q2 2027.

Why it matters: Devices with long service lives are where the post-quantum transition bites first. A smart meter installed today can still be in the field when today’s RSA and elliptic-curve keys are no longer considered safe, and while some secure elements can take new algorithms through a firmware upgrade, many deployed parts cannot, so the choice made at design time tends to stay for the life of the device. The SPI detail is a practical one: post-quantum keys and signatures run to kilobytes, which strains the slow buses many secure elements use, and it affects TLS handshake times on constrained links. Samples in 2027 mean products shipping in 2028 or later. Our guide to IoT device identity and PKI explains where the secure element sits in the chain of trust.

CISA flags an OPC UA library and a cloud camera platform

On 15 October, CISA published advisory ICSA-26-288-01 for Eclipse Milo, the Eclipse Foundation’s OPC UA implementation, covering six vulnerabilities in versions 0.6.0 through 1.1.4 with a top CVSS v3.1 score of 8.2. According to CISA, exploitation could let an attacker delete protected data, recover user credentials and impersonate users, or make the server stop responding to all clients. The fix is Milo 1.1.5, and there are no 0.6.x releases with the fixes, so users of that branch must migrate. The same day, CISA published ICSA-26-288-02 for Guangzhou Juan IoT Technology’s EseeCloud app and firmware, including a hard-coded credential (CVE-2026-107617, CVSS v3.1 9.8) that allows login to EseeCloud devices and a flaw that can unbind a device from its owner and bind it to an attacker’s account. CISA says the vendor did not respond to its coordination attempts, and no fix is listed; it also says no public exploitation of these flaws had been reported to it.

Why it matters: The two advisories show the two ends of the supply chain. Milo is a library that other vendors embed, so the fix reaches plants only when those vendors ship updates, and the abandoned 0.6.x branch forces a migration rather than a patch. Anyone running an OPC UA server should ask suppliers which Milo version is inside. EseeCloud is the opposite case: a hard-coded credential with no vendor response is exactly what the UK PSTI Act and the EU Cyber Resilience Act were written to rule out. Until the vendor acts, the defenses are the ones CISA lists: keep the devices off the open internet, put them behind firewalls with network segmentation, and use secured remote access such as a VPN. See IoT security fundamentals.

Also worth your time

• 13 October: LEDVANCE joined the Works with Home Assistant program with 116 certified lighting devices, plugs and switches, all using Matter over Wi-Fi and tested to work locally without a cloud service.
• 13 October: Nordic Semiconductor marked ten years in the BBC micro:bit, which the Micro:bit Educational Foundation estimates has reached 73.5 million young people in more than 85 countries; the current v2 board uses the nRF52833 SoC.
• 14 October: the Thread Group appointed Ann Olivo, a board officer who leads its marketing and previously worked at Silicon Labs, as president, succeeding Vividh Siddha after five years.
• 15 October: Sateliot reported on a session it organized at the European Parliament on the Commission’s overhaul of the 2 GHz mobile satellite band, with allocation starting in 2027; the company backs the proposal and asks for European preference and use of idle spectrum during the transition.

Sources

• Apple, Introducing Apple Home Collection, a new lineup of smart home accessories
• Iridium, Altair Semiconductor Integrates Iridium NTN Direct into ALT1350 and ALT1550 Cellular IoT Chipsets
• SEALSQ, SEALSQ Unveils VaultIC409, a Quantum-Ready Secure Element
• CISA, ICS Advisory ICSA-26-288-01 Eclipse Foundation Eclipse Milo
• CISA, ICS Advisory ICSA-26-288-02 Guangzhou Juan IoT Technology EseeCloud
• Thread Group, Thread Group Appoints Ann Olivo as its New President
• Home Assistant, LEDVANCE joins Works with Home Assistant
• Sateliot, European Commission, regulators and Sateliot debate the future of the 2 GHz satellite spectrum
• Nordic Semiconductor, Nordic celebrates 10 years with the BBC micro:bit

Topics: Matter, Thread, satellite IoT, post-quantum cryptography, IoT security