@pitosalas
All Kasa Devices use Wi-Fi for Communication - Even Devices with Matter Support or HomeKit will Use Wi-Fi as a baseline to Communicate. Wi-Fi devices will communicate directly with the Kasa app on your phone, without added hardware.
If you would want to create a Smart Home with the Apple Home Ecosystem, you would need to look at the hubs and controllers from them - while also making sure you are buying homekit-compatible devices. Smartthings allows for the linking of TP-Link Accounts, so a hub is not required to make use of their platform.
Right Now, the only Hub-Required Devices offered by TP-Link are not under the Kasa Brand. They are Tapo Devices and Will All be labeled as requiring a Sub-GHz Hub to communicate with the devices.
What kind of Smart Home are you looking to create? I would be more than willing to help guide you down the right path.