It’s full speed ahead for the connected home market with nearly 6.3 million Australian households having at least one IoT@Home (smart home) product at the end of 2021. And the fastest growing categories were smart security lighting up 50%, installation services up 40% and smart speakers up 28%, according to new research from Australian technology firm, Telsyte.
Increased time at home and greater awareness of products and services has seen more than one million additional households adopting IoT@Home products like smart speakers, smart lighting and smart security cameras since 2020.
The Telsyte Australian IoT@Home Market Study 2021 found sales of IoT@Home products reached $1.7B in 2021, up 15%, and forecast to grow to $4.4 billion by 2025.
The study found interest in smart security products remained high, not just for traditional monitoring but a range of new uses including keeping an eye on pets, children and deliveries.
Smart speakers are a gateway product for the IoT market too with Google and Amazon the market leaders with over 80% combined installed base share.
There was also more demand for home improvement using technology, especially among invested adopters with more than five different types of IoT@Home products. Close to two-thirds of their smart home budget is focused on convenience and better connectivity, compared to 45% among potential adopters.
According to Telsyte, household appliances are ripe for disruption, and new business models such as subscriptions could emerge from this segment. In lower cost categories such as robot vacuums, that one in 10 households have already adopted, 50% of consumers indicated they are interested in a home that “automatically” cleans itself.
According to Telsyte market tracking, the average number of connected devices in Australian homes is set to increase, driven by IoT@Home devices with the rest made up of smartphones, tablets, computers, game consoles, smart TVs and other gadgets.
The exponential growth of IoT @Home devices is expected to be driven by demand for volume products such as smart lightbulbs and increasingly smart appliances towards 2025.
The lounge and kitchen remain the top rooms consumers are looking to “modernise” the most. However, the study, “zoom room”, or home office area entered the top five spaces smart home products were used for the first time, such as smart speakers to help for timers, dictation and other virtual assistance.