One in three consumers owns two or more smart home devices

Smart home technology is catching on in a big way with a third of US consumers now having two or more smart devices, according to a new study.

The Smart Home report from GfK Research shows a high level of awareness of the technology, with 58 percent of US consumers saying smart home technology is likely to change their lives in the next few years.

The level of agreement with this statement is even higher (68 percent) among those aged 25 to 34, but teens and young adults (18 to 24) actually scored below average at 57 percent. Smart homes rank above other technology, with payments the only other emerging device or service that topped the 50 percent mark (52 percent). Wearables, cloud computing, and connected cars all scored between 30 percent and 40 percent.

GfK finds that over a quarter (27 percent) of US consumers have more than three smart home devices, and another seven percent own two or three. Overall, half of all people GfK surveyed have at least one smart home technology, with Millennial (25-to-34 years of age) ownership reaching nearly two-thirds (64 percent).

"For consumers today, Smart Home is a reality -- not just tech industry or marketing jargon," says Tom Neri, commercial director for tech and durables at GfK. "Smart Home devices and services are becoming part of people's everyday lives, and the advantages of having these devices synchronize and work together are very real -- in particular for home entertainment and home security systems. But while we found solid uptake and high expectations among Millennial ages, those often termed Gen Z seem less impressed or engaged -- a potential challenge for the tech industry, but also understandable for an age segment not yet in its first 'home life' stage."

One potential roadblock that GfK identified is cross-device communication. Almost seven out of ten Millennials expect devices from different vendors to talk to each other -- a level of compatibility the industry is still working to achieve in many cases.

The full study is available from the GfK website.

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