With the deep integration of artificial intelligence large-scale models, Internet of Things communication technology and home scenes, China’s smart home industry is bidding farewell to the era of stock competition where single product functions compete, and has fully entered a new development stage of cross-brand interconnection and open ecological integration.
Recently, EZVIZ Network officially released the local smart hub deployed in home scenes – the smart large model host EZVIZ AI CoreX, which has a built-in 64
Tops computing power and hardware products equipped with the industry’s first smart home “crayfish” intelligent system have become a landmark achievement of the industry’s collaborative upgrade from cloud intelligence to local device, edge and cloud.
From the implementation of breakthrough innovations in AI hardware, to the accelerated improvement of national-level industrial standards systems, to the large-scale commercialization of global interconnection protocols, the competitive logic of the smart home industry has undergone fundamental changes, and a new competition has begun around technical standards, ecological capabilities, and scene experience.
Full-scenario innovation responds to real needs
The penetration of AI technology into all scenarios is promoting the comprehensive upgrade of smart home products from “functional intelligence” to “experience automation”. Leading companies have used hard-core AI hardware as a carrier to create systemic solutions covering all home scenarios, achieving a leapfrog breakthrough from single-product intelligence to whole-house intelligence.
The EZVIZ AI CoreX intelligent large model host released by EZVIZ Network is a typical representative of this trend.
As a home local smart hub that integrates storage, computing, and control, this product relies on Home Vita, the industry’s first smart home “crayfish” intelligent body system, to achieve unified management and active services of home smart devices.
While To C-side hardware continues to make breakthroughs, full-scenario solutions are also being implemented on a large scale in real estate projects.
In 2026, Lingxi Zhijie AI Butler’s 24-hour full-scenario AI residential ecological platform was officially launched in Ganshuiwan Community in Nanning. The system uses large-scale human settlement models + multi-agent collaboration + embodied robot collaboration as its core technologies to build a closed loop of human settlement intelligence of “perception-decision-execution-feedback”.
At the global market level, Chinese smart home companies have also achieved brand breakthroughs through technological innovation.
At the 139th Canton Fair held recently, breakthrough products such as the AI intelligent ergonomic chair and the full-posture electric lifting table released by Chumi Smart Home attracted widespread attention from global buyers. Among them, the EGC-XR9 AI intelligent ergonomic chair relies on 11 sets of independent air bags and VTS waist back rail-changing gliding patented technology to achieve long-term sitting pressure relief and multi-scenario intelligent adaptation.
Accelerating improvement of the industry standard system
With the widespread application of large-scale model technology in smart home scenarios, the industry’s previous problems such as inconsistent standards, no standardization of AI security risks, and no scale for experience evaluation have become increasingly prominent. The accelerated improvement of the national industrial standard system is charting a clear path for high-quality development of the industry and becoming the core support for the smart home industry to enter a new stage.
Recently, at the AWE2026 China Home Appliances and Consumer Electronics Expo held in Shanghai, the China Household Electrical Appliances Research Institute officially released the “Smart Home Industry Standardization Work Roadmap”, which became a milestone event in the standardization construction of China’s smart home industry.
For the first time, the roadmap sets up an independent subsystem of “intelligent utility” in the national industrial standard system, completely reversing the industry’s development inertia of “emphasis on products but not on experience”, and uses result indicators such as safety, comfort, health, and personalization that are perceivable, measurable, and evaluable by users as the core of the standard, with safety listed as the core indicator of the system.
In view of the new industry risks brought by the application of large AI models, this roadmap specifically strengthens AI security specifications. In view of new risks such as hallucinatory output, unauthorized operations, and privacy leaks caused by large models in applications such as voice assistants and home managers, it proposes original technical provisions such as AI security classification requirements, trusted data specifications, and output content credibility assessment.
At the same time, the roadmap closely aligns with my country’s aging trend and lists “age-appropriate” as one of the 11 secondary categories of smart utility standards, covering the entire chain of age-appropriate requirements from hardware structure, software interaction to service models, filling the industry’s previous standards gap.
At the level of interconnection standard construction, my country has formed a standards system covering the entire technology chain.
Recently, the “Smart Home Unified Internet Series Standard” (OneConnect), led by the GIIC Global Smart IoT Alliance and jointly formulated by leading companies such as Haier, Midea, Huawei, Hisense, and TCL, was officially released. This set is known as the “Chinese version”
“Matter” standard, in view of the characteristics of numerous existing devices and complex protocol types in the domestic market, has achieved compatibility with multiple protocols such as Bluetooth and Star Flash, and can connect existing household devices to a unified ecosystem through heterogeneous protocol gateways, providing a Chinese solution for cross-brand interconnection.
From product overseas to ecological integration
In 2026, the global layout of Chinese smart home companies has entered the “deep water zone”. It is no longer a simple “product overseas”, but a head-on competition with international brands in the field of high-end technology, relying on core technology breakthroughs to seize high-end market share, and quickly integrate into the local market.
In the high-end market, Chinese companies have achieved “overtaking in corners” by relying on core technologies, and have formed obvious competitive advantages especially in fields such as large-size TVs and AR/VR.
Hisense’s global leading position in the giant screen TV market over 100 inches has been further consolidated. Its RGB-Mini LED TV exhibited at CES uses 20,000+ partitioned light control technology to achieve a peak brightness of 10,000 nits and a contrast ratio of 15,000:1. Core indicators such as color accuracy and dynamic range have reached the top level in the industry, and the price is more competitive than Japanese and Korean brands of the same specifications.
Technological breakthroughs in the field of AR/VR demonstrate the accumulation of cutting-edge hardware by Chinese companies.
Thunderbird Innovation launches the world’s first AR glasses that support eSIM function, “Thunderbird X3 Pro Project eSIM”, which enables all-weather independent use without a mobile phone connection and solves the convenience pain points of AR devices in mobile scenarios.
This product is equipped with a self-developed Micro-OLED display panel with a resolution of 2K+ and an expanded field of view of 55°. It supports all-day battery life and practical functions such as real-time translation and navigation, extending AR technology from specific scenarios such as industry and medical care to daily life.
In mature markets in Europe and the United States, the globalization strategy of Chinese companies has shifted from “product export” to “ecological integration”. By cooperating with local mainstream platforms, they have lowered the user threshold and quickly opened up the market.
The cooperation between Zhenghao EcoFlow and LG Homey platform is a typical case: Zhenghao’s portable energy storage equipment, smart charging piles and other products are connected to the LG Homey smart home ecosystem to achieve linkage control with LG smart TVs, air conditioners, lights and other equipment.
With the continuous iteration of AI technology, the continuous improvement of the standard system, and the deep integration of open ecology, China’s smart home industry is ushering in new development opportunities.
In the future, as more brands join the ranks of ecological construction, the smart home industry will usher in a more open and collaborative development stage.
The threshold for its use is expected to be further lowered, and more ordinary people can enjoy the convenience that technology brings to life.
