ON World

400 Million Smart Wireless Lighting Device Shipments by 2019

ON World’s recently published report covers wireless controls for the rapidly growing smart lighting market including residential, commercial and outdoor applications.  Growth rates in the residential sector increased by nearly 30X between 2012 and 2014 due to growing popularity for smart LED light bulbs.

San Diego, CA May 20, 2015— Low power wireless standards combined with a rapid migration to LED lighting has made smart lighting a catalyst for the Internet of Things, according to global technology research firm ON World. 

“With costs plummeting for LED lighting and wireless components, adoption for smart lighting has accelerated over the past two years,” says Mareca Hatler, ON World’s research director.  “Consumer demand for smart LED light bulbs in particular is redefining the smart home with increasing competitors from the mobile and consumer electronics industries.”

ON World’s April 2015 consumer survey with 1,000+ U.S. consumers found that 19% want to buy a smart wireless LED light bulb within the next two years.  Smart LED light bulb sales increased by 2900% in 2014 compared with 2012.  By 2019, annual shipments for smart wireless LED light bulbs will increase by over 4000%.

Retail sales of smart wireless lighting continues to accelerate with smart LED light bulbs now outselling other market segments such as switches, dimmers, plugs and sensors.  Drivers include sub $15 smart wireless LED bulbs, ZigBee Light Link for vendor interoperability and promotion by the Connected Lighting Alliance, along with seamless integration with smart home hubs by Belkin (WeMo), Connect (Staples), Lowe’s (IRIS), Samsung (SmartThings), WINK (Home Depot) and others. 

ZigBee has emerged as the leading smart wireless lighting technology. The success of ZigBee LED light bulbs has made it a consumer-friendly technology with ZigBee smart bulb products currently available from Belkin, GE, Cree, LG, Osram Sylvania and Philips.  However, the number of smart LED bulbs using Bluetooth is rapidly growing with recent offerings from Elgato, Satechi, Sengled and Misfit.  Bluetooth Smart Mesh is ZigBee's biggest threat with pre-standard products launching this year such as Feit Electric’s HomeBrite product line.  By the end of 2019, Bluetooth will become the second largest smart lighting technology up from 7% of residential unit sales in 2014.

Shipments of smart wireless lighting products including smart LED light bulbs and other wireless controls such as dimmers, switches and controllers will reach 400 million by 2019.  Widespread adoption of smart wireless LED light bulbs will make the residential sector the largest smart lighting market at this time and the largest Internet of Things opportunity to date. 

Based on vendor surveys and phone interviews with 1,200 individuals across the whole smart lighting value chain along with an evaluation of 250+ products and 20,000 consumer reviews, ON World’s recently published report, Smart Wireless Lighting, analyzes the rapidly growing smart wireless lighting market for residential, commercial and outdoor applications.

More information and a free executive summary is available from ON World’s website.

About ON World:
ON World provides global business intelligence on smart technology markets. For the past decade, our research reports and information services have been used by Fortune 1000 companies, startups and investors worldwide.

Media contact:
Mary Purvis
e: purvis at onworld.com
ph: 858-259-2397

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