The Rise of Smart Home Technology in 2023
It is undeniable that we are in the era of the smart home. Despite the fact that many houses currently lack technological advances, the trend is growing, so this year, expect to see smart technology both in newly constructed homes and as part of home renovations. Touchless doorbells and thermostats that are smart were popular trends last year. Integrations into houses have improved this year along with the advancement of smart technology.
Although smart home technology has luckily not sought to take over as anyone’s mother, it has gone a long way since Smart House first debuted on Disney Channel in 1999. The introduction of gadgets for every area in the house demonstrates how quickly new technologies are catching on in households.
People are genuinely purchasing houses nowadays with an eye on the smart home technology that is already present, so the latest trends in smart technology are no longer only for the most opulent homes or stored for an update years in the future. Following are some of the most prominent smart home technology developments at the moment.
- Integration
How well integrated smart home technology is becoming is one of the top smart house trends for 2021. As was already noted, technology is virtually expected now rather than being a luxury, and with increasing expectations have come connection and usability.
More smart home appliances are beginning to speak with one another from a purely integration perspective. For instance, you may install Google Home speakers in several areas of your house so that they can work together rather than separately. The lights in your whole house may be controlled by a Philips Hue lighting system, and it can execute custom routines that you set up to switch them on and off throughout the house in accordance with your schedule and requirements.
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Amazon
Your Amazon Alexa device’s shopping list may be updated if a smart refrigerator notices you’re running short on milk. When it comes to extending the smart home system, connectivity is essential.
Additionally, ease of usage is becoming better. Many smart tech gadgets may be set up without any prior technical knowledge. Most individuals can connect a number of gadgets if they have a smartphone, Wi-Fi, and an outlet, which lowers the entry barrier for all types of smart home technology.
- The Internet of Things and artificial intelligence
The majority of people are acquainted with at least part of the capability of AI thanks to voice-controlled assistants like Siri and Amazon Alexa. Artificial intelligence is becoming better at comprehending orders and providing more relevant responses. Residents of smart homes may use AI to play music, maintain their to-do list, switch on and off the lights, and do a lot more.
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Apple
Although understanding the internet of things, which is essentially connecting everything in the world to the internet, is still more difficult, advancements in the smart home IoT space will have a significant impact on how much easier life can be made, especially in the smart kitchen and smart bathroom spaces.
3 Touchless Technology
Photo: aver
This tendency had already begun to spread across the smart home industry, but it was amplified in 2020 and 2021 by the Covid-19 epidemic. In retail settings, you’ve probably seen touchless hand sanitizer dispensers. While they’re probably not smart-enabled, the potential is there, and the touchless idea is growing.
As an example, a recent invention allows visitors to announce their presence without touching a communal surface that can possibly transfer germs. Of course, a lot of household appliances may be operated through smartphone applications, meaning that anybody with control simply has to touch their phone and not the appliance itself.
- Smart Thermostats
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Ecobee
One of the most extensively used smart home technology products, after smart speakers, is the smart thermostat. They are often simple to install and entirely customizable to your habits and desired temperature, making it simple to change the climate in your house from anywhere.
Smart thermostats are also promoted as being economical and environmentally friendly since they make it simple to switch heating and cooling on and off while you’re gone from the house. Nest claims that its products save American consumers 10% to 12% on yearly heating costs and roughly 15% on annual cooling costs.
- Medical Technology
Photo: Edward Jenner
The pandemic also expedited another trend, with many smart home technologies beginning to either totally concentrate on, or at least promote, health advantages for 2021. As previously indicated, smart thermostats have long been among the most widely used smart tech products, but now some of them include features like humidity sensors to improve air quality; stand-alone moisture sensors are also seeing development.
As a result of the current worldwide health problem, smart air purifiers and air conditioners are also becoming more popular. Some smart doorbells have temperature-taking capabilities built in so that owners may check visitors for one of the most fundamental Covid-19 signs before letting them inside.
Smart water filtration solutions promote overall health in less Covid-inspired smart home technology. Advanced smart toilets go well beyond your standard toilet; they employ sensors to analyse waste and skin to reveal information about the user’s health and warn them of any potential problems in the hopes that users would seek expert help before a problem escalates.
- Exercise at home
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Samsung Global Newsroom
Tech-based at-home exercise is still on the rise in 2021, continuing a medical trend that was also boosted during the pandemic due to the closure of clubs and fitness studios and the rise in time spent at home. Increased interest has been shown in smart fitness technology like the Mirror (which Lululemon bought in June 2020), Samsung’s Smart Trainer, and the Ultrahuman app designed to sync with an individual’s Apple Watch.
- Home Based Office
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WOODRIDGE AND SCOTT
The broad shift to working from home has drawn attention to smart home developments, particularly for home offices, which are still developing as businesses close more offices and even adopt hybrid or permanent work-from-home policies. The potential for expansion in this industry can be seen in technology ranging from noise-cancelling windows to block out the neighbour mowing their grass to AI filters to disguise your filthy living room when you hop on a video conference with your boss.
- A fast connection
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Linksys
Future smart houses will likely have mesh Wi-Fi connections for high-speed internet. When mesh Wi-Fi links your main router directly to the well, slow connections and dead zones that appear when you leave your router will become a thing of the past. The remainder of the smart home equipment you install will have high-speed connectivity across the whole house.
- Modern Security
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Security
Smart house security systems are being created to safeguard the outdoors in order to guarantee the security of all the smart home technology inside. As these gadgets get increasingly linked, you will be able to monitor your house from anywhere and access the controls (such as opening the door for a delivery person or turning on the lights if you notice a suspicious figure on the sidewalk).
- Privacy Features
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Meta – Facebook
Data leaks and security intrusions have been problems for smart home technology. Companies are developing features to assure users of these gadgets that their information and their private lives inside their homes are secure in order to stay relevant to today’s discerning customers.
- Connected devices for appliances
Although they aren’t quite new, digital refrigerators are still popular in 2023 because of increased connection and functions.
Photo: Samsung Global Newsroom
Consumers are looking for ease more than ever when it comes to kitchen appliances, according to Jessica McConnell, director of colour, material & finish, and product graphics at Whirlpool Corporation. With thoughtful, linked capabilities like built settings that modify cooking times automatically and connected applications that deliver cooking instructions directly to the oven, modern appliances are enhancing daily living at home.
In order to “improve performance and give consumers new features and cooking methods,” according to McConnell, businesses are developing appliances that get smarter with time. We can assist customers in improving the intuitiveness of cooking and cleaning via linked technology.
- Smart showers
This year, a lot of big businesses will be heavily promoting customised digital showers.
Photo: Studio KOHLER
2023 has been dubbed “the year of the shower,” according to Kohler’s design studio manager of trends and CMF, Alex Yacavone. This assertion is supported by Pinterest’s most recent findings on personalised showers being a significant 2023 trend.
Brizo’s manager of the showering division, Clinton Cardinal, concurs. “There are many options on the market offering a variety of different benefits, but consumer favourites tend to feature a smartphone app to offer the user access to warm-up modes, user presets, and more,” he said in an interview. By doing this, the user may spend more time fulfilling their desires rather than sitting about waiting for the shower to warm up.
This year, connection options are popular for smart showers, but even more significant is the level of customisation, which includes user profiles with several presets to manage variables like temperature, duration, flow, and even additional audiotherapy, chromotherapy, and aromatherapy. Aromatherapy in your shower, you read it right.
The future of smart showers, according to Cardinal, will include “built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to connect to virtual home assistants to control your shower with voice activation” and connect to your preferred music or audio applications.
- Touchless faucets
The unnoticed heroes of every filthy chef’s kitchen are touchless faucets. They may also encourage cleanliness and water conservation, according to Brizo’s Cardinal they are useful for cleaning unclean hands.
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Grohe
The faucet is also intelligent enough to recognize whether you are close or distant, according to Cardinal, and the touchless function enables you to operate it without touching the handle that you needed when your hands were filthy. With this, you may save water while doing routine actions like brushing your teeth or washing your hands by simply stepping away from the faucet.
- Smart bathrooms
The era of the straightforward toilet is over. According to Yacavone of Kohler, “smart toilets are fully mainstream at this point, with a desire for designs that are sleeker” and in additional hues than just white. The U.S. market is seeing a significant increase in bidet sales.
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Kohler
You may anticipate seeing computerised toilets and bidet seat integrations in more markets and households this year, according to Danielle DeBoe Harper, senior creative style manager at Moen. Harper predicts that there will soon be devices available for purchase with “features ranging from instantaneous warm water to warm air drying and hands-free operation,” and that there will be a model to meet every need, choice, and spending limit.
- Eco-Aware Smart Water Networks
This year’s trends for smart homes and eco-friendly activities are closely related, which is a positive development. According to Forbes Home, Mason Hall, director of connected goods and fortune brands innovations at Moen, smart technology for water devices will be a significant trend in 2023.
According to Hall, outside watering is mostly to blame for the home’s high water demand. And that forthcoming smart water networks, which include sprinkler controllers and wireless soil sensors, would “take the guesswork out of lawncare and only water your yard when and where it’s needed, with features such as scheduling, independent zone control, and weather skip.”
With these new elements in place in your house, according to Hall, “users now have total control of water both in and outside of their homes, and can develop better habits to further their impact on today’s environment.”
Final Verdict
You have a wide range of alternatives at your disposal to upgrade your house with smart technology, whether you are interested in tackling a little job like replacing faucets or a much bigger one like adding smart showers. These tools may assist in managing the daily tasks and routines of your house using timers and personalised profiles, in addition to making your home seem slick. You could be inspired to digitise your house as soon as possible by these smart home trends, which are often worthwhile investments.
