Lighting Becomes Fastest-Growing Segment in Hot Smart Home Industry

Smart home devices are one of the fastest growing CE categories, on track to pull in $6 billion at retail this year, said a Wednesday Futuresource report. Revenue is forecast to triple by 2021, said the research firm. High-profile brands Samsung, Apple and Philips are among those conveying to consumers benefits and possibilities of smart home technology, said analyst Filipe Oliveira. Security and monitoring products are leading the smart home market in penetration and retail volume, said Oliveira, but lighting is showing the fastest growth. Futuresource predicts a decline in unit prices of lighting products, but the category will “reinvent itself, with the emergence of products that combine lighting with other functions such as speakers and cameras, adding both value and appeal to the category,” he said. Growing consumer appetite “for all things smart home” is giving rise to smart home devices beyond the four main categories -- hubs and control devices, security and monitoring, climate control and lighting systems, he said. North America has more than 60 percent of global smart home shipments and will continue to hold a larger share of the market through and beyond the forecast period, he said.