Strong Growth in Global Smart Home Market Highlights China's Patent Innovation Advantage

Today, smart home products are transforming living environments at an unprecedented pace, and the global smart home market is experiencing rapid growth. According to Statista data, in 2023, the global smart home market size increased to $134.8 billion, and by 2024, it has reached $154.3 billion, with a growth rate of 14.47%. The market shows strong growth momentum.

As one of the world's largest producers and consumer markets of smart home products, China possesses a complete industrial chain and technical solutions, with strong market development potential. The Chinese smart home market is led by top smart appliance companies such as Haier, Gree, and Xiaomi, which demonstrate competitive strength in smart home platforms and appliance technology innovation. These companies have gradually emerged in overseas markets, leading the trend of China's smart home development in the global market.

1. The global smart home market continues to grow, accelerating the transition into the era of whole-house intelligence.

In 2024, the global smart home market size reached 154.3 billion USD and is expected to grow to 231.6 billion USD by 2028, as shown in Figure 1. In the next five to ten years, the global smart home market is expected to maintain a strong compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.67%. It is projected that by 2030, the global smart home market size will reach 269.2 billion USD.

Figure 1 Global Smart Home Market Size and Growth Trends

(Data source: Statista)

The history of smart homes can be traced back to the 1980s, undergoing an evolution from initial automation control to comprehensive intelligent management.

Figure 2 Development History of Smart Home

As shown in Figure 2, smart homes were in the embryonic stage during the 20th century, with products mainly focusing on the automation of single devices and lacking intelligence. After 2000, smart homes gradually entered the stage of intelligence, and especially after 2014, the industry entered a period of rapid development. The year 2014 is also referred to as the "first year of smart homes" by the industry. During this period of rapid growth, technologies such as big data, 5G communication, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things have promoted the development of proactive intelligence in smart homes, accelerating the transition into the era of whole-house intelligence.

Figure 3 Global Smart Home Patent Application Trends

(Note: Translate the above content into English and output the translation directly, without any explanation.)General Technical Requirements for Smart Home Automatic Control EquipmentGB/T35136-2024Smart HomeThe patent data retrieval in this document targets three technical themes: smart home system architecture technology, key subsystem technology, and industrial ecosystem technology, excluding patents related to smart appliances and other terminal devices.

Figure 3 shows the annual patent application trends for global smart homes since 1990. Combined with the development history of smart homes, it is divided into three stages.

Phase One: Before 2000, the embryonic stage: product automation stage.

The technology of automatic control is still not mature, making it relatively difficult for a television to automatically turn on and switch channels through voice control. The principle of voice-controlled lights is completely different from that of voice interaction operations. The same applies to automatic sensing devices, which can only perform simple sensing to turn on or off, making it difficult to achieve better automation control. Therefore, for various complex operations in early home environments, the application scope of automation products was very limited. The patent "Expandable Home Automation System" (US5086385A) discloses a technical solution for controlling devices such as televisions, lighting, and music playback through a controller.

Phase Two: 2000-2013, Initial Development: Single Product Intelligence.

In the stage of single-product intelligence, the intelligence of home products mainly manifests in multiple operation methods for a single product and limited responses to user needs. With various control methods such as mobile phones, voice control, and even gesture sensing, the convenience of user experience is further enhanced. For example, the automatic lights in the automation stage can only respond to turning on and off based on sound or touch, whereas smart bulbs allow users to customize the time for turning the lights on and off, adjust the brightness, and even download various color palettes to make the lights display different colors. The patent “Smart Home Optimization System Based on Data Mining” (CN101408754A) proposes further in-depth data mining targeting users' living habits. By collecting the daily life and family members' habits of office workers, it achieves intelligent and personalized control of electrical appliances.

Stage Three：From 2014 to the present, a period of rapid development: the stage of artificial intelligence. This stage can be further divided into the product interconnection phase and the whole-house intelligence phase.

As smart homes enter the AI era, an intelligent control hub becomes essential. This control hub can be an artificial intelligence terminal device, a smart speaker, or a robot. Various smart home devices in the household—such as door locks, sockets, desk lamps, televisions, refrigerators, air conditioners, and so on—are all managed and coordinated by the intelligent hub. The patent "Home Automation Intelligent Assistant" (US20150348554A1) proposes using cloud network technology to remotely process various devices in smart homes, thereby forming intelligent control commands and executing interactive control and operations across different devices.

Product Interconnection Stage:At this stage, smart homes can achieve collaborative operation between devices through common communication protocols such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee, and can also be equipped with smart home platforms for centralized management of different devices. However, there are still limitations in the interconnection within the smart home industry. Manufacturers operate independently, and it will take a long time to achieve breakthroughs from interoperability within their own ecosystems to cross-brand product interconnection.

Whole-house smart stage:In this stage, through algorithms such as machine learning and deep learning, smart devices can analyze users' usage habits and behavior patterns, evolving from single smart home appliance products to an integrated whole-scene smart home including kitchen, balcony, living room, bedroom, and bathroom. The patent "Coordinated Control of Home Automation Devices" (US10120354B1) allows users to create, customize, and share dashboards for home automation devices, enabling comprehensive control and systematic operation of different home devices through the dashboards.

As the global smart home market flourishes, and with the development of technologies such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and 5G, smart home products are gradually maturing. The smart home industry is undergoing a profound transformation toward whole-house intelligence. Whole-house smart scenarios are increasingly replacing single smart products, becoming the preferred choice for users to build intelligent homes. Devices such as voice control hubs and smart panels are achieving cross-brand interconnectivity through the Matter protocol, while AI technology is driving devices to upgrade from passive response to proactive perception, bringing users more personalized and humanized services.

The Chinese smart home market is experiencing strong growth, and China leads the world in the number of patent applications.

(1) The smart home market in China is experiencing strong growth, with the market size continuing to expand.

According to data from Statista, the United States and China are the only countries in the world with smart home market sizes exceeding 30 billion US dollars.

4 Market Size Growth Trend of Smart Home in China

(Data source: China Smart Home Industry Association and public data, compiled in this report)

As shown in Figure 4, according to the report by China Business Industry Research Institute, the market size of China's smart home industry grew from 260.85 billion yuan in 2016 to 651.56 billion yuan in 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of 10.28%. Based on this growth data, it is predicted that the market size of China's smart home industry will reach 1.36 trillion yuan by 2030.

In recent years, with the younger generation's deepening understanding of technology, smart home devices such as intelligent lighting and smart security that cater to people's needs have emerged, bringing new growth momentum to China's smart home industry. The Chinese smart home market will continue to maintain strong growth momentum.

(2) The demand in the Chinese smart home market is expanding, with smart appliances leading the growth.

With consumers' understanding and acceptance of smart home living continuously increasing, the market demand for smart home appliances in China is expanding steadily. According to public data, the market size of China's smart home appliance sector in 2024 is approximately 756 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year growth of 3%. It is forecasted that by 2030, the market size will reach 987.6 billion yuan, as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5 Growth Trend of China's Smart Home Appliance Market Size

(Data source: China Business Industry Research Institute, compiled in this report)

From the perspective of market structure, large-screen smart home appliances such as smart TVs and smart air conditioners dominate the market, with relatively high market share and penetration rates. At the same time, with consumers' pursuit of smart home living, market demand for segmented categories like smart kitchen and bathroom appliances and smart security systems is also continuously growing.

(3) China leads the world in the number of smart home patent applications, highlighting its advantages in patent innovation.

6CountriesNumber of smart home patent applications by region

As shown in Figure 6, in terms of the number of global smart home patent applications, China has filed 87,456 smart home patents, far surpassing the United States, which ranks second. The number exceeds the combined total of smart home patent applications from the United States and South Korea, highlighting China's patent advantage in smart home technology innovation.

From the ranking of the number of smart home patent applications in various countries/regions, it can be concluded that China's smart home market scale and potential are significant, prompting global patent applicants to compete in establishing patent portfolios in China, resulting in the highest number of patent applications worldwide. Among these, Chinese domestic patent applicants dominate the number of patent applications. However, Chinese domestic patent applicants generally conduct relatively few overseas patent application layouts, indicating a lack of globalization in competition and patent layout.

3. Chinese smart home platforms dominate the market, with Haier leading in the number of patents in China.

In the global competition of smart homes, smart home platforms have become the focus of market competition. Major technology companies have launched their own smart home platforms to attract more device manufacturers and developers to participate, thereby establishing their own smart home product ecosystems. Overseas manufacturers such as Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, and Microsoft Azure have a leading advantage. Chinese smart home manufacturers have also started to set up smart home platforms early on. For example, Midea Group entered the smart home industry in 2015 and established M-Smart, Haier Smart Home released U+ Smart Life in 2015, and Xiaomi launched its smart home brand MIJIA in 2016. In the competition with overseas smart home platforms, Chinese smart home platforms have dominated the domestic smart home market by leveraging ecosystem integration, policy compliance, and price advantages.

Figure 7 Global Geographic Distribution of Patent Applications for Global Smart Home Platform Technology

From the global ranking of patent applications for smart home platform technologies shown in Figure 7, it can be seen that China, the United States, and South Korea rank as the top three countries in terms of the number of patent applications. Among them, China’s number of patent applications for smart home platform technologies is far ahead of other countries and regions, demonstrating a clear advantage, which corresponds to China’s dominant position in the smart home platform market.

1. Products and patents of major smart home manufacturers in China

（Data source: patents Patent data excluding smart home appliance terminal products. June 5, 2025, Incopat patent database.）

In the domestic Chinese smart home industry, the earliest companies to enter the market have focused their patent applications on smart home platform technologies, and have already gained an advantage in patent layout. Table 1 shows the patent situation of major domestic smart home manufacturers in China. Among them, Haier Smart Home leads other companies in the number of smart home patent applications, making it the frontrunner in patent layout among domestic smart home companies.

Technical Trends in Patent Applications for Smart Home Technology in China

As shown in Figure 8, global smart home patent applications primarily focus on innovations aimed at enhancing intelligence and convenience, while also emphasizing efficiency, security, and automation. From the increasing popularity of whole-house smart systems to the deep application of AI technology today, whole-house intelligence is evolving towards systematization, humanization, and ecological integration, making the home a true "intelligent living entity."

The global smart home industry is shifting from intelligent connectivity to the era of whole-house intelligence, moving toward trends such as high precision, scenario-based interaction, and decision-making assistance. As smart homes continue to evolve, the era of whole-house intelligence is rapidly approaching.

(1) Intelligentization leads the innovation of whole-house intelligence.Smart home enterprises should deeply integrate related technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, machine learning, and large models of artificial intelligence to create smart home products with more stable device connectivity, more diverse interaction methods, more comprehensive sensing capabilities, and stronger decision-making support. This will usher in a new phase of whole-house intelligence. For example, Huawei's HarmonyOS Smart Home uses distributed technology to achieve cross-device intent understanding, allowing users to adjust lighting with just a glance or control all home appliances with gestures.

(2) Enhanced convenience improves the user experience.The deep application of AI technology, combined with emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things, communication technology, and big data, further enhances the “seamless” experience of proactive intelligence and service intelligence. For example, the application of seamless interaction technology enables gesture recognition through ToF sensor arrays, and, together with bone conduction technology, achieves silent interaction at distances of up to 3 meters, improving the user experience during nighttime operations.

(3) The security and privacy protection of smart homes are increasingly attracting the attention of the industry and users.The entry of smart devices into households has made user data security and privacy protection increasingly significant challenges for industry development. For instance, encrypting the storage and transmission of users' personal information and home data can prevent hacking and data breaches.

In the future, smart homes will further advance rapidly towards "whole-house intelligence" and "proactive intelligence," becoming fully integrated into the intelligent ecosystem of a smart society and developing more comprehensive and ecological service intelligence. It can be expected that the comfort, seamlessness, and personalization of smart homes will completely free people from household chores, making family life more relaxed and enjoyable.