According to IDC, the global smart home device market is set to grow by 31% in 2018 to reach 643.9 million units shipped, before growing to reach nearly 1.3 billion devices by 2022 at a CAGR of 20.8%.
The analyst puts smart speakers, video entertainment products, connected lighting, smart thermostats and home monitoring/security products under the "smart home device" umbrella. The fastest growing product category is, perhaps unsurprisingly, smart speakers, accounting for 100m units in 2018 and 230.5m by 2022 with a 5-year CAGR of 39.1%.
"While dedicated smart speakers with built-in voice assistants will be prevalent throughout the forecast, we're already seeing a notable shift in this market," the analyst adds. "Many new types of devices, both inside and outside the home, now include built-in voice assistants. Not only do these help to increase the number of touch points available to end users, but it also helps each assistant to grow by expanding reach and gaining a deeper understanding of what, when, and how users approach various tasks."
The connected switches making the Wondrwall system replace the standard fittings in either a retro or new fit, and carry 13 different sensors able to monitor temperature, humidity, power, motion, luminosity and sound. Thus, the system can consist of a network of over 100 sensors spread across a typical 3-bedroom home, and pairs with smartphone location tracking in order to to learn occupant habits and preferences. Over time, Wondrwall learns how the home is used, and makes appropriate adjustments to heating, lighting and security in real-time.
The OS now offers Amazon Music and Deezer Hifi as music streaming integrations, and customers can add one or more music services directly from a mobile device or Control4 touchscreen via an "Add Music" capability. In addition, Control4 directly supports Deezer, iHeartRadio, Napster, Pandora, SiriusXM, Spotify, Tidal and TuneIn streaming services.
“The Kasa Smart Wifi Power Strip is the latest innovation in the Kasa Smart lineup, making the dream of a smart home a greater reality,” the company says. “For many, the possibility of a smart home may seem like a challenge, but the Kasa Smart Wifi Power Strip makes the dream attainable by giving you six outlets that can turn any product into a smart product. This means you can control any device from anywhere, monitor energy consumption and more, thanks to the Kasa Smart mobile app.”
Outside of smart TVs, the smart home device category with the lion's share of the market is digital media adapters such as Roku devices and the Amazon Fire TV. The category shows 26.8% Y-o-Y growth in Q2 2018, the result of still "vast" installed base of non-smart TVs, as well as the general lack of software updates of TVs technically able to offer digital media adapter functionality.
“We’re pleased to further expand our relationship with Basalte to give our residential dealers access to even more refined and innovative control options for their system designs,” Crestron says.
The smart plugs should allow customers to control any offline product via app or remote control. Teknikveckan reports Ikea has two such plugs in the works, a "control outlet kit" with an on/off remote and a "wireless control outlet." The remote has around 10m range, and can be magnetically attached to metal surfaces, while the plug is compatible with Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant and Alexa.
