At this year's AWE, major manufacturers showcased their latest technologies and products in various fields such as home appliances, smart homes, consumer electronics, and artificial intelligence, presenting innovative achievements that broadened our horizons.
Among the various categories, smart home products incorporating more intelligent elements caught the attention of Xiao Lei. Not only do we have kitchen appliances with AI models and smart home suite products tailored to scenarios, but also indoor smart cameras with higher resolution and more features for home security.
Recently, Runto Technology (RUNTO) released the online market data for surveillance cameras in China for the first quarter of 2024. It is evident that as consumers increasingly embrace whole-house intelligence and smart hardware, indoor smart cameras that effectively enhance home security have become essential for many families to care for the elderly, children, and pets.
It can be said that indoor smart cameras have become another focal point for brands to compete vigorously in the consumer electronics market.
With the soaring demand for indoor smart cameras, Xiaomi dominates a quarter of the market
The concept of smart homes has a long history, but it was not until 1984 that the first concrete case was created by the American United Technologies Corporation. In the domestic market, smart homes have also experienced several boom periods, but due to the high requirements of "hardware + software + content + ecosystem," a single smart product cannot support the entire smart home system. Therefore, the overall progress of smart homes is not ideal, and it still requires more interconnected products to upgrade from "point-to-point" to "point-to-surface" connectivity.
Looking back at the smart home market in recent years, single products such as robotic vacuum cleaners, smart door locks, smart speakers, smart sockets, and smart small appliances have gradually entered consumers' homes, allowing more families to enjoy the convenience of smart homes. According to the latest market data, indoor smart cameras may become the next hot product in smart homes.
According to Runto Technology's latest research report, in Q1 2024, sales of surveillance cameras in China's online public retail market (excluding emerging e-commerce platforms such as Pinduoduo and Kuaishou) surged to 5.87 million units, a 31.3% increase compared to the previous year. In the consumer market, indoor applications still dominate, accounting for a stable 56.7%. Among them, Xiaomi has been leading for three consecutive quarters, with a market share close to 25%, followed by Qiaoan, Yingshi, Haque, Pulei, 360, Jingshiwei, Batian'an, Leiweishi, and Lenovo ranking 2-10.
Image Source: Loto Technology
When it comes to specific product parameters, single-lens cameras with 3-4 million pixels are the mainstream choice in the current market, accounting for a total sales share of 55.1%. The growth trend of high-pixel products is also significant, with 5 million pixel products showing the largest growth rate, increasing their sales share by 13.6% year-on-year, indicating a strong potential to become the high-end standard. The even clearer 8 million pixel products are more like the flagship standard in the industry. It is evident that domestic households in China are increasingly valuing the image quality of surveillance devices. Xiao Lei predicts that in the future, more manufacturers will participate in the competition of high-pixel products, leading to a continuous rise in this segmented market.
In addition to image clarity, the form of indoor smart cameras also influences consumer choices. PTZ cameras (Pan-Tilt-Zoom) remain the most popular in the market, accounting for a sales share of 52.1%. Dome cameras follow with a share of 21.8%. However, both types have experienced a decrease in market share to some extent, mainly due to the rise of PTZ cameras with gun-ball linkage. The sales share of PTZ cameras with gun-ball linkage is 16.6%, showing a 13.6% year-on-year increase compared to last year.
Image Source: Xiaomi
In addition to conventional forms, the concept of screens has given rise to a new form of "screen + camera," such as Xiaomi's "smart camera + movable screen" baby care kit, and the family companion robots from Yeelight and Xiao Du. With more diverse forms of camera products, it is highly likely that they will break the traditional role of cameras as mere monitoring devices and become multifunctional household assistants.
What are the advantages of indoor smart cameras?
The market trend depends on the acceptance of smart home cameras by domestic households. Although the overall penetration rate of home monitoring devices in China is still lower than that in Europe and the United States, with the recent growth in market size, it is believed that the penetration rate of home monitoring devices in China will soon approach or even surpass that of Europe and the United States.
In fact, home security monitoring devices such as cameras have been around for a long time as a traditional category, but their market scale in China has not seen significant growth. According to Xiao Lei, the main reason is that the threshold for professional security cameras is too high. They are not only complex and cumbersome to install, but also have high requirements for network environment and storage space. For the vast majority of households, the effort put in does not match the benefits gained, leading to poor performance of related products in the consumer market.
On the other hand, indoor smart cameras have lower costs, with devices generally priced below a thousand yuan. They are compact in size, requiring only power and network connections during installation, without the need for additional wiring. Video recordings are updated in real-time to cloud storage, offering greater convenience compared to traditional cameras. However, the greatest advantage of indoor smart cameras lies in their level of intelligence. Users can remotely control and view the camera through an app, and they can also integrate with other smart home products, unlocking a variety of usage scenarios.
Image Source: YI Technology
The barrier to entry has lowered, allowing more families to experience smart cameras integrated into smart home systems. Additionally, with more families facing issues related to childcare, elderly care, pet care, and home security, the demand for indoor smart cameras is increasing.
In this context, a large number of players are entering the smart monitoring industry. While the number of brands is increasing rapidly, industry-related issues are also emerging, such as homogenization and lack of innovation.
On one hand, this can be seen as a sign of the industry gradually maturing. On the other hand, it signifies the industry hitting a bottleneck. As the market size expands, how to gain more market share becomes a challenge that all brands in this race must face.
What more do indoor smart cameras need in terms of image quality, storage, and intelligent analysis?
In terms of conventional hardware, it is challenging for indoor smart cameras to make breakthroughs in functionality, as the essence of cameras is to provide real-time viewing. Currently, many brands are still competing in terms of image quality, attempting to attract consumers with higher definition images. However, relying solely on image quality may not be a sustainable competitive advantage. After one brand briefly leads, others will catch up.
The smoothness and clarity of device detection are the foundation of the product. Since a single image quality cannot create differentiation, pursuing the ultimate may be a viable path. Similar to smart TVs, indoor smart cameras also require dedicated chips to enhance imaging effects in various environments, capturing more scene details. This not only helps in better event reconstruction but also aids in subsequent analysis and processing.
Image Source: Seagull Technology
With 24/7 high-quality recording, the demand for data storage is also higher. Therefore, a more intelligent storage system is crucial for the entire smart camera industry. Imagine a system that can automatically identify and process data, optimize storage efficiency, reduce storage costs, and prioritize data security alongside storage. This would be a significant advantage for products in the market competition.
Moreover, the core of indoor smart cameras is intelligence. When we read articles or watch videos, we can summarize the content based on our own experiences and extract the parts we need, showcasing intelligence. Xiao Lei believes that the intelligence of cameras is essentially anthropomorphism. Through continuous learning, a monitoring system tailored to the needs of a household can be developed. As a result, indoor smart cameras can provide more detailed and precise analysis of images, including person identification, motion analysis, object recognition, and area intrusion detection, better meeting users' security monitoring requirements.
The above content presents personal ideas about the product itself. From the perspective of market consumer demand, consumers' needs for smart home products represented by indoor smart cameras have evolved from individual smart devices to interconnected full-scene solutions.
From TVs to refrigerators, from door locks to speakers, under brand promotion, it seems like every smart device can become the center of a smart home system, allowing users to control the entire smart home system through them. But is it really so? At least the products mentioned above cannot escape their own usage scenarios, and they struggle to even meet the simplest visual needs. Adding a camera to a product does not solve this issue.
Image Source: Yunmi
Even indoor smart cameras don't necessarily have to be limited to the surveillance field. The "smart camera +" mode may be able to combine with more smart home products, creating new forms and becoming an important part of the product line by inheriting the "interactivity" of smart homes.
Focusing on the present, the surveillance camera market in China and even the world is rapidly developing, with competition among various brand products shifting from hardware to intelligence and ecology. As an important part of the smart home system, indoor smart cameras are seeking breakthroughs through "multiple forms" and "interconnection", aiming to redefine the future opportunities for whole-house smart development in today's increasingly diverse usage scenarios.
