A new report from Juniper Research has found that there will be almost 13.5 billion smart home devices in active use by 2025, compared to an expected 7.4 billion at year end 2020.
Smart entertainment devices take the bulk of revenue attributable to smart home devices, as over $230 billion in 2025. Voice assistant capabilities are an increasingly common way to control digital entertainment devices, from smart speakers to TVs and games consoles; linking them into the smart home ecosystem.
This voice assistant proliferation means that the smart home will become increasingly dependent on discrete purchases, rather than holistic smart home packages that were common in the early days of the market. 94% of devices in use will be from individual purchases, with less than 50 million households globally having a smart home subscription in 2025.
The new report, Smart Home Devices: Business Models, Market Trends & Forecasts 2020-2025, notes that the smart metering market will grow slowly, at an average rate of 2% per year worldwide, compared to 12% for smart home entertainment devices. Juniper Research notes that smart meters require continued support from regulatory authorities to move much further, particularly outside Europe.
Despite growing to 3.9 billion active devices in use in 2025, the research notes that smart home automation will only be used by 11% of households globally in 2025. These devices, primarily lightbulbs and locks, are not ones that consumers will need to replace on a regular basis.
James Moar, Research Co-Author
The value in this segment is being able to encourage use throughout the home; leading to a high level of value for each adopter. Outside of entertainment, adoption will come more from vendors making them the default option, rather than the technology encouraging replacement of utilitarian devices.
