Aqara G350 Matter camera is the first Matter 1.5 indoor camera worth buying

UPDATED · News · 3 May 2026 · MTW News Desk

Aqara G350 Matter camera is the first product to ship with Matter 1.5 certification, and that finally pulls indoor security cameras into the same open standard that runs lights, locks and thermostats. 9to5Mac’s hands-on review on May 1 confirms the dual-lens camera also doubles as a Zigbee hub, Matter controller and Matter bridge.

Why the Aqara G350 Matter camera matters

Smart home cameras have been the awkward gap in Matter since launch. Lights, locks, plugs, thermostats and sensors all came along, but camera support stayed proprietary. Matter 1.5 changes that, and the Aqara G350 Matter camera is the first physical product certified under the new spec. That makes it the camera most UK smart home enthusiasts have been waiting for – one device that talks to Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa and SmartThings without picking sides on the day you set it up.

The G350 also doubles as a Zigbee hub and Matter bridge, which is the bit that quietly justifies the £110 (about $139.99) price. Buyers who already run Aqara sensors, locks and switches can collapse a camera and a hub into one unit on the shelf, instead of paying for two boxes. That stacks well with the broader Matter story we have been tracking in our best Matter and Thread smart home devices guide, where the missing link has always been a camera you can recommend without caveats. Aqara fans cross-shopping the rest of the lineup should also check our best smart locks 2026: Yale, August and Aqara compared, since the G350 lives in the same Matter bridge story.

Aqara G350 Matter camera specs that actually matter

The dual-lens design is the spec sheet’s standout. A 4K wide-angle lens at 133 degrees handles the room shot, while a 2.5K telephoto at 43 degrees handles details across the same field. The two combine for up to 9x hybrid zoom, paired with a 360-degree pan-tilt motor that does the tracking work an indoor camera actually needs. The G350 records to a microSD card up to 512GB, streams to a NAS via RTSP for full 4K archiving, and supports HomeKit Secure Video in parallel.

The intelligence sits on-device. Local AI tracking handles people, pets, faces, smiles, gestures and six sound types without sending video to the cloud. There is a 940nm infrared night vision module with an f/1.6 aperture for low-light shots, two-way dialogue rated within 5 metres with full-duplex audio pickup up to 8 metres in a quiet indoor environment per Aqara’s spec, and a physical lens shield for the privacy-conscious. That hardware shutter is the answer to the “is the camera definitely off” question that has dogged indoor cameras since the first Nest Cam.

Aqara G350 Matter camera vs the smart home incumbents

The HomeKit Secure Video caveat is the bit Apple-leaning buyers should plan for. Even though the Aqara G350 Matter camera can capture 4K, HomeKit’s pipeline tops out at 1080p, so you keep the higher-resolution archive on NAS or microSD. That is fine for most homes – 1080p HomeKit clips with full 4K local backup is a defensible setup – but it does mean Apple Home users are not getting the full advertised resolution in their feed until iOS adds Matter 1.5 camera support.

What UK Aqara G350 Matter camera buyers should watch

UK pricing on the Aqara G350 Matter camera should land close to £130-£150 once Amazon UK and the Aqara EU store catch up; the US price is £110 (about $139.99) and Aqara has historically priced reasonably for the UK after VAT. The buying decision really turns on three things: do you already run Aqara hardware, do you want one camera that talks to all four big platforms, and are you willing to keep an eye on Apple Home’s Matter 1.5 timeline. If two of those answers are yes, this is the camera to buy.

The compatibility story stretches the value further. Because the G350 is a Matter controller and bridge, it can pull in older Zigbee devices and present them to Matter-aware hubs, which is the kind of plumbing that lets you sunset a SmartThings hub or an old Hue bridge without re-pairing 30 accessories. That is useful for the same audience reading our how to set up Matter and Thread guide, and it is more than a Nest Cam or Ring Indoor Cam can credibly claim.

The risk is that Aqara’s app polish has historically trailed its hardware. The G350 is hardware-rich enough that buyers will want to use the Aqara app at least for setup, even if they live in Apple Home or Google Home afterwards. If you bounced off Aqara’s app before, the May 1 review suggests it has improved, but you should still expect a clunkier first setup than a Nest. That is the trade you take for one device that handles Matter, Zigbee, four ecosystems, NAS recording and 4K on a single shelf.