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Thanks to advancements in smart home technology, we are on our way to actualizing the technology conceptualized in science fiction shows like The Jetsons.

While we may have a ways to go before we can have our own robotic maid like Rosie, advances in smart home technology are impressive. We now have self-cleaning toilets, remote access to your home’s temperature controls and a refrigerator that alerts you when you’re running low on milk, for example.

How prevalent are these smart home devices? Which products are people buying?  We will provide a general overview of the smart home market and then explore several trending smart devices in this article.

Smart Home Market Overview

Is all the buzz about smart home devices warranted? We will provide a brief overview of user penetration, why consumers buy them, market growth and what market leaders are doing in our smart home market overview.

The number of U.S. homes with smart technology is expected to almost triple this year compared to 6 years ago. In 2013, 13% of U.S. homes had integrated some form of smart technology. That number is projected to reach 33.2% of U.S. households this year. By 2023, an estimated 53.9% of U.S. households will use smart home technology.

Why are smart home devices so popular? 57% of U.S. consumers said that smart devices in their homes saves them time. On average, each smart device user saves 30 minutes per day and 182.5 hours per year. Other top reasons shoppers buy smart devices include:

• Having children

• Makes life easier for aging adults

• Convenience

• More control over their homes

• Save on energy costs

Projections show that smart home tech will continue to grow in popularity. The global smart home market is expected to exceed $53 billion by 2022. Most revenue in the smart home market is generated in the U.S. Revenue in the smart home market is forecast to reach about $27.2 million in 2019 with the average revenue per home with smart home tech installed at $186.55.

What are the major players in the home improvement and hardware industries doing regarding smart home tech?

Despite the growth in the smart home tech market, Lowes decided to shut down its smart home platform Iris. This platform, launched in 2012, is a place for consumers to buy and manage smart home devices, including cameras, security systems, thermostats and smoke alarms.

Lowes says it will continue to sell Iris and other smart home products in its stores. The decision to dump Iris was made because Lowes reportedly wants to focus on the “retail side of the Iris business, not supporting our own smart home platform.”

Like home improvement and hardware stores, Amazon also carries several smart home devices. In 2018, Amazon acquired smart home equipment maker Ring for a reported $1 billion.  “In the short term, Ring gives Amazon another piece in its Alexa puzzle and a leg up in its race against Google and Apple to control homes that will increasingly be filled with connected appliances,” Bloomberg wrote.

Amazon already dominates the smart speaker market—it has 72% of the smart speaker market. The Amazon Echo outperformed the Google Home. And there’s much more to the smart home device market than speakers. There are smart light bulbs, connected thermostats, doorbells, smart toilets and smart appliances, to name a few. Smart devices are connected via Bluetooth, WiFi or some other means that operate interactively and autonomously (to some extent).

Trending Smart Devices

An estimated 42.2 million U.S. homes will have at least one smart device this year. Which smart devices are consumers buying for their homes?

We will provide brief overviews of hot products in the kitchen, bathroom, home security, smart speakers, smart light bulbs and smart doorbells. We will start with how receptive consumers are to voice assistants because they are often a component of smart home tech.

Voice Assistants

Most consumers who have a speaker, phone or vehicles with a voice assistant use it, according to the Voice Assistant Consumer Adoption Report released in November 2018.

Voice assistant usage is more prevalent on smartphones over every other device. A total of 252 million U.S. adults use a voice assistant monthly, 90.1 million of whom use smartphones and 45.7 million of which do so via smart speakers.

How are consumers using their voice assistants? The top uses for them include:

• Answer a general question

• Traffic update/directions

• Find a place to eat

• Product research

• Stream music

• Play games

• Radio/podcasts

Kitchen

Smart home appliances are catching on. An estimated 17.3 million U.S. homes will have at least once smart appliance in their kitchen in 2019.

Staying true to the general smart home market, the U.S. generates the most revenue in the smart home appliance market. Smart home appliances’ revenue is expected to reach approximately $6.7 million this year. The average revenue per smart home household with a smart appliance spends $387.88.

Smart appliances are in high demand. 83% of homeowners between 25-65 who are planning a kitchen renovation between now and 2021 want to install smart appliances.

Among homeowners who upgrade their faucets and appliances during a kitchen renovation, use of high-tech devices is growing in popularity, according to the 2019 U.S. Houzz Kitchen Trends Study. Three in 10 appliances have high-tech features, which include wireless controls, touchscreen display, built-in speakers, built-in apps and smart meter connectedness.

High tech faucets are even more prevalent—57% of upgraded faucets include high-tech features. Those features include water-efficient, fingerprint-less, touch only and LED light display for temperature.

The prevalence of voice-activated controls in appliances and electronics has tripled from 2017 to 2019.

Bathroom

When updating their bathrooms, the toilet and shower get the most high-tech feature upgrades, according to the 2018 U.S. Bathroom Trends Study.

28% of toilet upgrades include high-tech features, which include:

• 13% Self-cleaning

• 9% Heating

• 6% Motion-activated seat

• 6% Self-deodorizer

12% of shower updates include high-tech features, which include:

• 7% Mood lighting

• 5% Digital controls

• 2% Built-in sound

Home Security

The smart home security market will be worth $74.75 billion by 2023. This growth is due to both technological advances and consumer interest.

Consumers are willing to spend an average of $491.90 on a smart home security system. How common are smart home security systems?

• 17% of home owners have a smart home security system installed

• 14% of consumers would consider a smart home security system

• 34% of consumers trust smart home security systems to protect their homes

Smart Speakers

The average U.S. household has 1.8 smart speaker devices, according to findings from the Smart Speaker Consumer Adoption Report. A total of 47.3 million people, which is 18.8% of the U.S. adult population, have access to smart speakers. In 2016, just 1% of the population had access to them.

Smart speakers are becoming an integral part of consumers’ lives: 63% use them daily and 77% use them weekly. What are consumers using smart speakers for?

• Music

• Ask a question

• Check the weather

• Set an alarm/timer

• Listen to news/sports

• 11.5% shop by voice monthly

Which smart speaker do consumers prefer? Amazon has 72% of the market; Google has 18% and the remaining 10% of the smart speaker market is other.

Smart Light Bulbs

The smart lighting market is projected to increase from $7.93 billion in 2018 to $20.98 billion by 2023.

An estimated 100 million light bulbs will be connected to the Internet by 2020. How many U.S. consumers are using them? Although 62% of consumers can imagine using smart lightbulbs, just 11% of consumers have them.

Smart Doorbells

True to the general smart home tech industry, most of the growth in the global smart doorbell market is coming from the Americas.  There was 61.23% year-over-year growth in this category in 2018.

The global doorbell market is forecast to reach $1.4 billion in 2023. Although interest in smart doorbells continues to grow, the cost of smart doorbells is a potential barrier to purchase for many. A regular doorbell costs about $20 while smart doorbells often cost upward of $150.