Smart Home Predictions: What Will and Won't Happen in 2019

With 2019 in its infancy, it is worth a look ahead at what is in store for the smart home market. Here are five predictions focusing on what will happen, and five highlighting what will not.

Five Things That Will Happen

1. The adoption of smart home products will grow, which is a no-brainer since people love home gadgets. Plus, many of the current products are convenient and affordable. Guidehouse Insights expects revenue from hardware alone to grow by 15% year-over-year in 2019, with strong growth through 2026.

2. Homes with smarter devices will continue to help boost energy efficiency. This will happen through bring your own device (BYOD) programs that tap into the functionality of smart thermostats, smart appliances, energy storage, EVs, and EV-supply equipment.

3. The battle for home hub supremacy will continue. Amazon, Google, and Apple will keep competing for dominance in an increasingly important market that features cloud-enabled smart speakers.

4. Little things like sensors and chipsets will improve their functionality. For example, 2GIG offers a nifty stove and grill sensor panel that detects when burners have been left on accidentally. Also, Z-Wave’s 700 platform enters the market featuring increased connectivity range and lower power consumption for smart home devices.

5. More homes will enjoy the benefits of better Wi-Fi to connect smart devices through advanced mesh network systems. I’ve added one of these systems to my home, and it has made a significant improvement.

Five Thing That Won’t Happen

1. The security of smart home technology will not improve by much. With so many new devices being added to smart homes, the bad guys will have many ways of exploiting those devices. And, as antivirus software maker McAfee predicts, more malware will target smart homes in 2019.

2. 5G will not become mainstream. Despite all the hype around 5G wireless technology, the systems and devices will just be getting a start in 2019, and 5G for the home market won’t be ready for at least a couple of years for most people.

3. Privacy concerns will not go away. Despite some efforts to allay fears about what happens to all the data, connected home devices will still creep us out.

4. Interoperability will not become the norm. There will be steps taken to enable disparate devices to work together, but there will still be too much fragmentation, as noted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in comments made recently about Internet of Things standards.

5. Robots will not be common in the home, at least not the kind we all imagine. Yes, the market will grow for things like robot vacuums, but those are not what most people think of as a robot. Robots like C-3PO or Pepper are still years away from becoming mainstream.

We’ll Be Watching

The smart home market will flourish in 2019, but many hurdles will remain. One thing is certain, though: Guidehouse Research will have a clear focus on this important market, sorting out the traction from all the hype.