The Smart Thermostat Sector Heats Up With 67.2 Million Devices Shipped by 2030

The smart home market is growing steadily and transitioning from novelty implementations to mass adoption - new product ranges and professional subscription services are evolving to ease adoption and expand the consumer base to retrofit installations and new home developments. According to a new report from global technology intelligence firm ABI Research, smart home device shipments for energy management, specifically smart thermostats, smart lights, and smart plugs, will grow from 230.9 million in 2024 to over 584 million in 2030. 

“Western European households will lead the adoption of energy efficiency smart home devices, followed closely by North American households. The rate and speed of adoption depends on many factors such as increased household Wi-Fi connectivity, device price points, installation type, and customer service,” explains Rithika Thomas, Sustainable Technologies Senior Analyst at ABI Research. “Global Energy Regulations, eco bonuses, and subsidies in Europe (particularly in France, Germany, and Italy) will additionally drive adoption during the forecast period and open opportunities in retrofit markets, which will surpass new builds.”

Legacy, big-name brands are strengthening their offerings by acquiring smaller companies with niche expertise as the fragmented smart home industry matures. Currently, the ecosystem is fragmented, with no dominant overall players and a significant disconnect between product marketing, market hype, consumer adoption, and purchasing power. Data privacy, security, sustainability, convenience, energy savings, and interoperability with existing devices are strategic considerations vendors use to drive customer satisfaction and ensure vendor stickiness. The smart thermostats sector will have the highest impact on residential energy consumption, with over 45% adoption in Western European and North American households, amounting to 67.2 million devices shipped globally by 2030.

Google, Honeywell, Amazon, and Ecobee represent more than 60% of the global market share for smart thermostats with an installed base predominantly in single-family residential homes. Other smart thermostat vendors include Carrier, Schneider Electric,  Netamo, Samsung, Siemens, and LeGrand & Tado GMbh.

“As the smart home market matures, consumers are becoming tech savvy and comparing product performance - vendors need to prioritize customer engagement, ease of installation, demonstrate use cases, adopt Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and data analytics to enhance the user experience without being intrusive to stay ahead of the game,” Thomas concludes.

These findings are from ABI Research’s Smart Home Hardware for Energy Management report. This report is part of the company’s Smart Buildings and Consumer Technologies research services, which includes research, data, and analyst insights.