Samsung adds IoT to kitchen with Family Hub Refrigerator to improve food management, family communications, entertainment

Samsung Electronics unveiled its next generation Family Hub, a major advancement in the role and importance of the refrigerator in family life. Building upon consumer insights and feedback over the past year, the Family Hub has new app integration and more diverse content partners to make shopping, communication and entertainment more seamless than ever.

The Family Hub is transforming life in the kitchen and reshaping expectations toward refrigerators. Its enhanced integrated tools and technologies include voice activation features, three built-in cameras that allow users to see inside the fridge from a companion smart phone app, more personalized family connection features, and new ways to enjoy music and television. Additionally, the lineup has expanded from 4 to ten models, including traditional 3-door and new 4-door French models, enabling consumers to choose the configuration and price that fits their family’s needs.

Samsung has improved Family Hub’s connectivity in app integration and voice technology to make it even more interactive, personalized and functional. Food management is more seamless and easier than ever. From a smart phone, users can look inside the Family Hub refrigerator using the View Inside cameras, build shopping list, and place an order using Instacart app or Groceries by Mastercard. Consumers can tap into food delivery and cooking resources like Grubhub and Nomiku, or find a delicious meal idea with the voice-enabled Allrecipes app from Meredith Digital.

Family communication has been one of the most popular aspects of the Family Hub. Significant enhancements include an easy-to-use interface that enables family members to create their own profiles using avatars or, starting in September, personal pictures.

With the LED touchscreen serving as an interactive digital bulletin board, users share photos, access updated calendars, handwrite memos in real time, and post memos from wherever they may be (via a companion smartphone app). In entertainment, app partners like TuneIn and Spotify allow users to stream music and/or videos, while users can also watch programming from their Samsung TV directly on their refrigerator.

Beginning this fall, Family Hub will feature the Samsung Connect app, which debuted on the Galaxy S8 earlier this year, giving families more control over their connected homes. By controlling and monitoring Samsung smart products, including appliances, from a single app on the front of the refrigerator, while managing hundreds of third-party devices, like lights, door locks, security cameras and wireless speakers, when connected to the Samsung Connect Home Smart Wi-Fi system which works as a Samsung SmartThings Hub. Now Family Hub can be more than just the hub of the kitchen, it can be a hub within the smart home.

For a more convenient kitchen experience, Samsung’s advanced voice technology has also been integrated across many of Family Hub apps. Examples include voice commands to find out about the time and weather, adding products to shopping lists, ordering groceries online, managing to-do-lists and calendar schedules, and having recipe directions read to one cooks.

At a MSRP (manufacturer’s suggested retail price) starting at $3,299, Family Hub reflects significant changes in the ways families live and communicate. Multiple generations are increasingly living under one roof, adult kids are boomeranging and elderly parents are settling in – while families are using mobile technology to stay connected.

“The kitchen has always been the center of the home, but with technology changing how families connect and communicate, home appliances are emerging as a new focus of innovation,” said John Herrington, senior vice president, general manager of home appliances, Samsung Electronics America. “The Family Hub is a huge step forward in the modern kitchen. It empowers you to do things you never thought possible – like take the fridge with you to the grocery store, digitally display a photo of your kids’ winning goal, and enjoy your favorite entertainment right from your digital screen.”


IoT Innovator Newsletter

Get the latest updates and industry news in your inbox! Enter your email address and name below to be the first to know.

Name