As we start the new year, we wonder what exciting developments will be in store for the smart home industry in 2022. 2021 was an eventful year with Ring rolling out a number of new smart security products, the Matter standard gaining industry support, and Wi-Fi 6 becoming more widespread. Exciting as those advances have been, CNET wrapped up 2021 by declaring that the last 12 months were rather uninteresting for the industry. The writers cited a lack of innovative, new products as the basis for their conclusion, and called the year one of focus and refinement. 

However, in a nascent, fast-changing market such as smart home, refinement of new products is a good thing. An exciting development of 2021 was the increase in reported smart device ownership, which ranged from a whopping 66% for smart light bulb ownership which rose to nearly 20% from 12%, and an increase for smart home security systems which rose from 16% ownership to 18%. Overall, Interpret’s Smart Home Matrix™ showed that as 2021 progressed, 55% of adults aged 18 to 55 owned a smart home product, including a smart speaker, and the average adult owned 5.6 device types. Moreover, purchase intentions for smart home products increased by up to 60% in many cases. It is clear that consumers are more aware of smart home products and more interested than ever before.

“2022 will, most certainly, show steady increases in adoption of smart home products as they continue to be simpler to operate, work seamlessly with other devices, and become extremely affordable,” said Stuart Sikes, Senior Vice President at Interpret. “Based on the growth numbers we have been watching in 2021, expect a large number of homes to deploy smart lighting and doorbell cameras in 2022, followed by smart thermostats and Wi-Fi cameras. Also, expect a continued blurring of lines between DIY smart home security systems and pro-installed, as both become smarter, while the former becomes less expensive and easier to install.”