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November 2025 ertonline.co.uk


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Rethinking Smart Living Rethinking Smart Living


With the sector evolving from scattered gadgets to unified ecosystems, Rupert Cook, Sales & Marketing Director at Gekko, explores the trends in AI, Matter support and privacy that are redefining the modern smart home.


F


or years, the smart home market has been in a state of flux, promising a future of seamless usability but often delivering a confusing array of hardware and rising costs. Early adopters often


became frustrated troubleshooters, grappling with incompatible devices and a confusing array of apps. Now, thanks to the latest developments at IFA 2025 in Berlin, this narrative is taking a turn for the better. This year’s event provided us with a real insight into the direction some of the biggest players in the sector are heading and the consumer trends they are tapping into. The focus has shifted from novelty to genuine utility, addressing the friction points that held back mass adoption. The market is moving from a collection of gadgets to a cohesive ecosystem.


The UK market and key trends Ownership of smart products has doubled in the past five years. Knowledge of products is a key factor in the market, and around 80 per cent of UK households have at least one smart home product.


A big part of further adoption is devices that


are able to operate with other products, be it other device categories or brands. Matter, the open-source protocol that enables devices


from different brands to seamlessly interact, has been a slow burner since its 2022 release. However, its growing importance is as critical to the category’s future as ever. It operates over Wi-Fi and, crucially, Thread, a low-power mesh network where each new device strengthens the entire system’s reliability and speed. Virtually all major brands, including smart lighting partners like Philips, revealed enhanced Matter support in their products at IFA 2025. This move reaffirms their commitment to the protocol and highlights its benefits.


Alongside this element, new AI features are also expected to drive a new wave of smart home interest, as Google has scheduled a Gemini for Home rollout for later this year. The era of the simple, reactive voice assistant is ending, replaced by proactive partners that can handle complex requests like, “Plan a dinner menu based on my smart fridge’s inventory and start a cooking playlist.” At IFA, brands like Aqara showcased AI capabilities for their security cameras, enabling them to better detect people or motion, delivering those insights to the user. The new generation of smart assistants aims to enhance task completion and responsiveness. They are also designed to be more conversational and interactive.


Convenience, savings, and privacy One of the biggest draws of smart home technology is the convenience it offers. This sentiment is echoed by industry leaders, who state that “The AI Home isn’t about building a sci-fi house of the future, it’s about those simple wins that make life easier”


This ability to centralise management of devices allows for greater energy efficiency, allowing for utility cost savings which touch upon strong customer sentiment. Since heating accounts for about 55 per cent of household energy use, smart thermostats can learn user habits and adjust heating schedules, potentially saving owners hundreds of pounds a year. This extends to smart plugs, cutting power to standby devices and appliances running during cheaper, off-peak hours.


As these systems integrate into our lives, privacy has become paramount. In response, the industry is shifting to on-device processing, where powerful chips inside devices like a Google Nest Cam analyse data locally instead of sending it to the cloud. This keeps personal data within the home, enhancing privacy and response speed. Brands now compete not just on features, but on their commitment to transparent security policies, a key factor in purchasing decisions. With the UK smart home market set for an annual growth rate of 10 per cent through to 2029, up to around £14bn, there is a huge market for brands to get involved with if they can marry up their products and ecosystems to the key consumer trends. The real promise is a convenient smart home that works seamlessly, saves money, and respects user privacy.


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