Smart home device shipments are set to grow by 55 percent to 252 million by the end of this year, underpinning a wave of new services and sources of revenue.
A new report from ABI Research said that double digit year on year growth is set to continue into the next decade. By 2023, shipments will hit 467 million units.
Jonathan Collins, Research Director at ABI Research, said: “The past few years have brought a wealth of investment into smart home adoption. Now, more than 70 million homes worldwide have one or more smart home devices.
“These devices and their continued adoption are a beachhead for smart home players to position themselves as key partners for new and existing home services and, in turn, draw new revenues from their smart home investment.”
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The past year has seen new partnerships enabling existing players to introduce new services to their products. Google’s Nest partnered with Monitronics/Brinks, and Samsung partnered with ADT for its Smart Things platform to both deliver new security functionality.
Researchers also cited smart appliances, which are finally bearing fruit after years of substandard growth. Global shipments will hit more than 15 million devices this year, double that of 2017.
Collins added: “Key smart home protagonists, including Amazon, Apple, Google, and Samsung, have turned to smart home devices to expand and strengthen their existing core revenue streams.
“Increasingly, these and other smart home players will leverage their smart home customer relationships in order to become the gatekeeper for a host of industries looking to connect with consumers in those homes.”