Smart Home Systems Now Transitioning Beyond the Home to a Networked Infrastructure

More than 630 million smart home devices will ship this year, but a raft of recent developments will shape the value and scope of those smart home investments as the wider market begins to transition, finds global technology intelligence firm ABI Research.

“The efficiencies and capabilities that smart home adoption offers consumers, service providers, and the technology industry now lies well beyond what has broadly been ‘new gadget’ appeal,” says Jonathan Collins, Smart Home Research Director at ABI Research. “Smart home is transitioning from vendor silos to networked infrastructure with value shared across multiple players and pushing beyond the home and across industries, cities, nations, and economies.”

With the Matter specification, backed by Amazon, Apple, Google, and now more than 200 other smart home players, on the horizon for 2022, and the effort gaining momentum and growing in scope, players long daunted by the demands of disparate smart home ecosystems are exploring what smart home integration can deliver. Increasingly, the installation of smart home devices is separating from services provided over each installation. Applications such as home security and energy management will sit alongside home health, insurance, commerce, robotics, entertainment and more as a raft of services integrate with smart home awareness to simplify and automate everyday life.

As standardization and expansion approaches, smart home players confront a wealth of market developments including new spectrum availability, greater service specialization, new partnerships, additional connectivity options, and growing competition across the smart home market. “A wave of reorganization, integration, and change is coming to Smart Home and consumer companies across multiple markets will have understand and act to ensure that they leverage the potential to strengthen and expand their appeal, or face losing key consumer awareness, access, and allure,” Collins concludes.

These findings are detailed in ABI Research’s Smart Home Bi-Annual Review report. This report is part of the company’s Smart Home research service, which includes research, data, and ABI Insights.