With the continuous advancement of technology, intelligence has gradually permeated every aspect of our lives. Whether it is intelligent robots replacing manual labor in factories, smart home appliances at home, or lights that turn on as soon as you enter a room, all these make our lives full of happiness. The smart life that once existed only in imagination is now within our reach.
According to the "China Smart Home Device Industry Outlook and Investment Strategy Planning Report" released in February this year, China is expected to usher in a large-scale explosion of smart homes in the next few years, with an annual growth rate of 50%. It is estimated that by next year, the smart home market size will expand to 139.6 billion yuan. The "China Smart Hardware Industry Series Research Report" also points out that smart homes account for 36.6% of sales, ranking first. The current market situation conveys a message to us: the spring of smart homes has arrived.
Smart homes are actually around us
Although smart homes have begun to affect every aspect of our lives, some consumers are still on the sidelines, more curious than actually using such home products. Smart homes, as the name suggests, when we understand this new thing, we need to know what "advanced" functions it has in terms of intelligence. Current smart homes mainly establish a comprehensive home service management system through computer communication and control technology. To achieve this function, users need to control smart home products through touch screens, remote controls, or voice commands.
Currently, many large companies have begun to increase R&D investment in the smart home field. The well-known American company Apple actually started laying out the smart home field earlier. After releasing the Apple smart home platform HomeKit in 2014, smart home products equipped with HomeKit have appeared in recent years. However, since the beginning of this year, the frequency of smart home products equipped with the HomeKit protocol has increased significantly, showing explosive growth. In April this year, Apple also cooperated with R&F Properties to build a smart home showroom in Beijing, including door locks, switches, lights, home appliances, curtains, air quality detectors, and other devices, all of which can be controlled via iPad or iPhone. Young consumers generally show sufficient interest in such smart home devices. In fact, this "curiosity" is also one of the factors driving the development of smart homes.
Strong consumer demand promotes the popularization of smart home products
Currently, the prospects of the smart home field are optimistic among domestic manufacturers, with favorable factors from consumers, the market, and policies. This has also led many manufacturers to move towards intelligence under the root of Internet+. These aspects are the reasons why many manufacturers have entered the smart home field.
First, consumer demand pain points drive the development of smart home products. With the continuous improvement of living standards and the rise of the middle class, the concept of high-quality life is deeply rooted in people's hearts. For these consumers, home devices not only need basic performance but also need to "understand people's hearts." For example, when returning home, smart lights automatically turn on; when it's morning, smart curtains automatically retract. In fact, pursuing such a lifestyle is not only for geeks in the tech circle but also for a large number of ordinary people. The support provided by smart homes in terms of convenience and safety gives consumers a certain desire to buy this new product.
In addition, with the increase in per capita income and the decline in smart home prices due to technological improvements, the impact of high prices continues to shrink. It is foreseeable that with the continuous development of technology, the prices of smart home products will continue to decline. Overall, this has a positive effect on the increase in the smart home market size.
Favorable conditions under macro policies
In addition to consumer demand for product purchases, the introduction of national policies has also ushered in spring for smart home products. The "Made in China 2025" plan points out that China has begun to shift towards innovation-driven, intelligent transformation, strengthening foundations, and green development, accelerating the transformation from a manufacturing giant to a manufacturing powerhouse. Among them, the "Internet+" action plan has further promoted the integration of the Internet, cloud computing, big data, the Internet of Things, and modern manufacturing. It can be seen that the country supports enterprises in combining high-tech innovation and development. For the smart home industry, the release of macro policies has also exerted considerable energy.
Currently, under the influence of policies, housing prices in first-tier cities continue to decline, which is favorable for the renovation of smart homes and the purchase of large smart home appliances. For users who buy houses and need decoration, it is more convenient to install smart homes. At the same time, for products with long usage cycles such as smart home appliances, the decline in housing prices has further increased their sales.
In addition, some smart home manufacturers have begun to cooperate with real estate developers to directly carry out intelligent transformation of houses. Such mid-to-high-end residential properties just meet the needs of the middle class, thus gaining favor from some consumers.
Product technology upgrades provide technical needs
In addition to the advantages of the overall environment, the improvement of current technology has also laid the foundation for the popularization of smart homes. Functions that we once thought smart homes could not achieve have improved with current technology. For example, smart TVs, including companies like iFLYTEK, have achieved a high accuracy rate in voice recognition. Some elderly people who are not good at using remote controls can directly use voice to give commands to the TV, which indeed simplifies our lives.
But things often have two sides. Although the functionality of products has increased, sometimes their smart functions do not simplify our daily lives. After using these functions once, they are often "frozen" by users. Therefore, although the improvement of technology promotes the progress of smart homes, it still needs to focus on consumer needs and pain points.
It is predicted that by 2020, the penetration rate of smart TVs will reach an astonishing 93%, and the penetration rates of smart washing machines, air conditioners, and refrigerators can also reach 45%, 55%, and 38%, enough to see the vast development space of this blue ocean of smart homes. Under the favorable conditions of consumers, the market, and macro policies, the spring of smart homes has actually arrived.