A new survey of more than 2,000 American adults examines consumer smart home preferences: which category they'd try first, and which features appeal to them most.
Roughly one-fifth of PCMag's survey respondents say that smart TVs and remotes, and media streaming devices (Roku, Amazon Fire Stick, Apple TV) were the type of smart home products they'd want to try first. In second with a 19 percent share were cameras and video doorbells. Smart lights, smart thermostats, and smart home security all had a share of 16 percent, and were the third most popular smart product category.
We didn't include smart speakers on the list, since they've become so ubiquitous in the past couple of years—and some consumers may not realize that they are a legitimate building block for a smart home.
Maximizing energy efficiency was the top benefit of smart home devices for an additional 21 percent of respondents, while for the last 14 percent, equipping their homes with smart devices simply came down to saving money. When your house's temperature, electricity usage, and more are all easy to control with an app or a voice command, a conscientious home owner can use that connected power to take a big chunk out of monthly utility bills.