The worldwide market for smart devices, including connected lights, smart speakers, connected thermostats, smart TVs, home monitoring/security products and digital media adapters grew by 38.5% to 130.1 million shipments in the second quarter.
International Data Corporation (IDC) says that outside of smart TVs, digital media adapters, such as the Roku devices and Amazon’s Fire TV, accounted for the largest share of the smart home devices market.
The category grew 26.8% year over year during 2Q18, with the adapters able to take advantage of a lack of software updates in the smart TV domain.
“Networked entertainment represents a key stepping stone for consumers as they embark on their smart home journeys,” said Adam Wright, senior research analyst for IDC’s Consumer IoT Program. “Digital media adapters are an important gateway into content ecosystems as well as broader consumer IoT ecosystems in general – such as smart assistants and related services – and their low price point is drawing interest from a growing base of consumers worldwide.”
The market leaders are Amazon’s line of Fire TV products that shipped close to 5 million units in the second quarter worldwide. In addition to the United States, IDC says Amazon has captured a substantial share in other countries such as India, Japan and the United Kingdom.
Second place went to Google’s Chromecast with 3.7 million devices shipped across the globe during 2Q18. IDC cautions that the outlook may not be as bright for this particular Google product with the search giant turning its attention to its assistant and smart speakers.
Roku was third, IDC says its presence outside the United States is muted, though it should be noted Roku is the power behind the Sky/Now TV OTT boxes and sticks.
