On December 24, 2025, the “2025 Smart Home Market Innovation Conference and Industry Year-End Gala,” themed “Gathering Strength for a New Beginning,” was successfully held at the Hangzhou Junshang Yunli Hotel. This conference focused on the overseas smart home market, bringing new insights and directions for industry development. A representative from Smart Headlines delivered a keynote speech titled “2025 Overseas Smart Home Insights.” He believes that the Matter protocol has become the mainstream standard, and most new products in the second half of 2025 will support this protocol. Furthermore, after adding camera functionality in version 1.5, it will continue to iterate to version 1.6. In terms of product category innovation, it shows a trend of breakthroughs in multiple areas. Smart photo frames and thermostats continue to evolve, while new products like security drones and toilet cameras are emerging. However, market gaps remain in scenarios such as toilet-related health data. From a product perspective, smart speakers and cameras hold a stable position as core AI-enabled products, while categories like smart locks and lighting are caught in price competition. The reverse sales model for overseas companies is gradually becoming a new possibility, bringing new ideas to the industry’s development. The current brand landscape presents a trend of “overseas dominance and Chinese breakthrough.” The overseas smart home market is still dominated by local brands, but Chinese brands going global are rapidly expanding, with most companies choosing the Matter/KNX technology route. The list covers multiple fields such as smart control, security, and home entertainment, and includes leading domestic and international brands such as Lutron, Apple, Amazon, Xiaomi, and IKEA.
At the ecosystem platform level, although overseas markets are in the early stages of interconnectivity, there is a clear division among different camps. The platform value of equipment manufacturers is weakening, while giants such as Apple and Google are focusing on AI large-scale models and core hardware layouts. The Xiaomi-IKEA alliance demonstrates strong competitiveness, with IKEA’s 21 Matter devices achieving cost-effectiveness comparable to Xiaomi’s thanks to their scale advantage. This also confirms that the entry of giants into the Matter era will drive category expansion and price optimization.
Industry evolution presents a dual-track approach of “standard iteration + capability upgrade”. Although the Matter standard requires long-term refinement, interconnectivity is an irreversible trend.
The evolution of product categories is multi-dimensional. Besides AI empowerment, products such as thermostats and central control screens continue to break through in functionality, integration, and design. AI-enabled cameras and speakers have become key focus areas for platform development. With the expanding influence of Chinese brands going global and giants continuing to increase investment, the overseas smart home market will be rapidly restructured under the guidance of unified standards, product innovation, and AI empowerment. This fierce competition is expected to spawn more groundbreaking solutions. The conference also featured numerous exciting events, including the DESSMANN Night Smart Home Market Innovation Conference and Industry Year-End Gala Dinner, the release ceremony of the “2025 Smart Curtain New Trend Insight Report,” the release ceremony of the “Smart Home Construction and Installation Specifications” group standard, the establishment ceremony of the CSHIA – AI Smart Hardware Working Group, and the release ceremony of the 2025 Matter Industry Chain Ecosystem Map. Concurrently, the “Smart Home Traffic Creator Summit Forum” was held, and several prestigious industry awards were announced, including the 2025 Dingzhi Award for Annual Innovative Product, the Smart Headlines Top 10 Most Watched Smart Home Products of the Year, the Smart Home Traffic Influence Award, and the 2025 CSHIA Entrepreneurship Camp Smart Home Scene Design Co-creation Competition Annual Outstanding Design Case Award, comprehensively showcasing the industry’s development and innovative achievements.
