Economic pressures led to a decline in global shipments of smart home devices in 2022, the first time ever that shipments fell, according to a report from International Data Corp.
Global shipments of smart home devices dropped 2.6% on a year-over-year basis to 871.8 million units, according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Smart Home Device Tracker.
Smart TVs, the largest category, experienced a 4.3% decline in 2022. IDC blamed the fall, in part, to an extremely strong 2021, which was driven by COVID-related purchasing.
For the current year, IDC forecasts a modest 2.2% growth in smart home device shipments. This growth is expected to continue through 2027 with device volumes reaching 1.23 billion in 2027.
Apart from smart TVs, the shipments of which are expected to continue to fall, the shipments of most other smart home categories such as security cameras, connected doorbells and door locks along with smart displays are expected to grow in 2023 thanks to a growing installed base, a recovering economy, and the rise of emerging markets.
“Smart TVs will likely face another year of decline in 2023 due to macroeconomic pressures and long replacement cycles,” Jitesh Ubrani, IDCs Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers research manager, said in a prepared statement about the smart device shipments report. “With the recent entrance of value-oriented brands such as Amazon and Roku, IDC expects further declines in average selling prices for TVs while also bringing premium features down to more affordable price points.”
Telecompetitor reported earlier this year that more than one-quarter (28%) of homes had three or more smart devices.
