ABI Research claims that appliance vendors along with networking Companies are set to witness substantial growth over the next five years with global sales from Wi Fi enabled appliance devices reaching nearly US$25 billion by 2018. Currently limited to the top-end luxury models, wireless connectivity will slowly permeate to lower tier vendors and models, according to ABI Research.
ABI Research senior analyst Adarsh Krishnan said, “Smart home appliances have yet to incorporate features that add significant value for their premium price. Smart home appliance features are at present limited to remote access through mobile devices. The true value of these smart grid ready devices, such as use in demand-response energy management programs, is several years away and initially will be primarily US-based.” The research group said that Australia will be one of the Countries that drive growth in the APAC region for smart home appliances at a five year CAGR of 92%. North America remains the most lucrative market which has seen the fastest growth in the uptake of smart appliances. Wi-Fi is preferred by appliance manufacturers for wireless connectivity which will see over 21 million Wi-Fi enabled appliances shipped worldwide in 2018, the firm said. High penetration of Wi-Fi networks in residential households and its ability to easily add devices to the home area network without additional bridges or controllers are seen as a key advantage. However, partly due to Wi-Fi’s higher energy consumption, other connectivity technologies such as ZigBee, Z-Wave, and Bluetooth will slowly gain share of the smart appliance market, noted ABI Research. |
