Does your Samsung TV have a SmartThings hub?

Plenty of Australians who use SmartThings never bought a hub. They bought a Samsung TV, a soundbar or a Family Hub fridge, and a hub came inside it. What trips people up is that recent Samsung TVs carry the SmartThings name and the SmartThings app whether or not there are radios behind them. The name tells you nothing. What is inside decides whether you can add a Zigbee sensor or a Thread lock to your home.

The answer depends on the tier of the product, not the year it was made. A 2023 flagship has the radios. A 2024 DU8000 does not.

Which Samsung products have a hub built in

Samsung's clearest statement is a post on the SmartThings blog from April 2025, naming a set of product lines that, in its words, 'all include a SmartThings hub and Thread Border Router'. Everything named sits at the top of its range, and for televisions the list starts at 2023. Samsung qualifies it with the word 'select', so read a product line being named as a strong signal rather than a promise covering every model in it.

Inside almost every product line there is a split, and it runs along price rather than along years. The models known to need the dongle include the 2023 CU8000 and CU7000, the 2024 DU9000, DU8000 and DU7000, several M-series monitors, LPU projectors, the HW-LS60D soundbar, and the LS01D and LST9D. So a 2024 mid-range set needs help to reach Zigbee or Thread, and a 2023 flagship does not.

Reading your model code

This only works if you use the full model code rather than the marketing name, so find the code on the label on the back of the set or on the box. The series letters inside the code are the part that carries the answer. A code containing CU8000, CU7000, DU9000, DU8000 or DU7000 is one of the entry and mid-range lines, which means Wi-Fi and the cloud only. Samsung Australia's support site is indexed by that code, so it is also what you search with. If you are still choosing a set rather than checking one you own, the same rule applies in reverse: look at where the model sits in the range, not at how recent it is.

One thing to expect. Even an entry set has a built-in hub. It simply has no radios behind it, so it cannot reach a battery-powered sensor or a lock.

What a built-in hub actually reaches

On the models that have it, the built-in hub is also a Thread border router, and the two lists are the same list. Thread accessories, and Matter accessories running over Thread, need a border router somewhere in the house before they have a network to join at all. If your set is on Samsung's list you already have one sitting in the lounge room, and you did not have to buy anything to get it.

A set that is not on the list is still not cut off from SmartThings. It appears in the app, and it works with anything that connects over your Wi-Fi or through a cloud-to-cloud integration with another brand. What it cannot do is talk directly to a low-power radio device, which is the category battery-powered sensors, buttons, locks and blinds fall into.

One limit is absolute. No built-in SmartThings hub supports Z-Wave, on any Samsung product, in any model year, and the dongle does not add it either. If you already own Z-Wave gear, or you are buying into it for a specific device, a Samsung TV will never be the answer. That needs a standalone hub with a Z-Wave radio in it.

How to check your own model

Two checks settle it, and both start with your exact model code rather than the year.

• Look the code up on Samsung Australia's support site. The support page for that exact code is the best local source to check.
• Open the SmartThings app and try to add a Zigbee or Thread device through the TV. Those devices attach to a hub with radios, so if there is nothing for them to join, you have your answer.

A different question, often asked in the same breath, is whether a particular accessory is certified for SmartThings. Samsung's compatible-devices directory is where to answer that one. Open it and filter it yourself rather than relying on a search result.

If your set turns out to be Wi-Fi and cloud only, there are two ways forward: the SmartThings Hub Dongle, or a standalone hub. Each is its own question.