Smart Door Locks 2024: Price Wars, AI Power, and Global Ambitions
Smart Door Locks in Fierce Competition in 2024: Are Price Wars, AI Integration, and Going Global the Main Themes?
In China, about smart home sector, Xiaomi and Huawei have once again stood out.
Recently, data released by domestic research institution Lotu Technology showed that in 2024, the total channel sales volume of the smart door lock market in China was 17.47 million sets, a year-on-year decrease of 3%. Among them, Xiaomi’s shipments exceeded 1.5 million sets, ranking first in sales volume, and its sales amount was slightly inferior to that of DESSMANN, ranking second. It is worth mentioning that although Huawei’s smart door lock sales volume did not enter the top five, it ranked fifth in sales amount due to its excellent performance in the high-end market.
Although the sales volume of the sliding smart door lock market has declined, the entire industry still maintains a good trend. It is just that due to the impact of the general environment, there have been some fluctuations in sales volume, and the changes in the industry will pose more challenges to smart door lock enterprises.
From B to C Smart Door Locks Enter the “Online Era”
Before and during 2023, the B-side market (business-to-business), primarily focused on complete home decoration, dominated the domestic sliding smart door lock industry. In this model, “connections” often mattered more than product quality or marketing strategies. To boost sales volume and market share, smart door lock manufacturers mainly needed to build strong relationships with home decoration companies.
However, in 2024, the B-side market share dropped to 44.1%, marking a year-on-year decrease of 14.4%. In contrast, the C-side market (consumer market) experienced significant growth, rising by approximately 12 percentage points to 54.6%, surpassing the B-side for the first time.
The decline of the B-side market is closely linked to the downturn in the real estate industry.
According to the White Paper on the Chinese Smart Door Lock Industry by Aoweiyun.com, from January to September 2024, the planned construction area of residential buildings in 300 cities across China reached 220 million square meters, a 37% year-on-year decrease.
The transaction planned construction area was around 160 million square meters, down 35% from the previous year.
Newly built commercial housing sales fell by 22.7%, totaling 6,888 billion yuan.
This real estate slowdown has significantly impacted the patio smart door lock industry.
On the other hand, the rapid rise of the C-side market has injected new growth momentum into the industry. The key challenge for smart door lock companies now is to develop products and design marketing campaigns that align with consumer needs and preferences in this evolving market.
Furthermore, statistics from Lotu Technology reveal that in 2024, online sales channels dominated the market, with 7.72 million smart door lock units sold online. In contrast, offline retail sales were negligible, highlighting the critical importance of the online market in the current competitive landscape.
Taking the online market as the mainstay means that the sales volume of smart door locks depends on consumers’ support and product exposure. In order to compete for consumers, the competition among enterprises will become more intense. Smart door lock brands need higher exposure, and the trend of top brands dominating the market will become more pronounced. Brands such as Xiaomi, Huawei, and TCL, which have great influence in the Internet, digital technology and other industries, have inherent advantages.
The product prices in the online market are open and transparent, making it convenient for consumers to compare. To attract consumers, the price wars among smart door lock brands will inevitably intensify. According to Lotu Technology statistics, the average price of smart door locks in the domestic online market in 2024 has dropped from 1,301 yuan in 2021 to 913 yuan. Affected by industry competition, Xiao Lei expects that the average price of smart door locks through online channels will drop below 800 yuan within two years.
In addition to price wars, the intensity of the “technology wars” in the smart door lock industry will also escalate. Smart door lock products are enriching their functions and evolving towards home security platforms, so more complex biometric technologies need to be added. At present, low-end smart door locks mainly adopt convenient unlocking solutions such as App Bluetooth, fingerprint, and NFC (excluding inconvenient solutions such as emergency keys and passwords), while high-end smart door locks have added biometric solutions such as AI palm vein recognition and 3D structured light facial recognition.
These solutions are more secure and can avoid the problem of inaccurate fingerprint recognition when the palm is sweaty. The additional camera can also be used as a home monitoring device, further improving security. In the future, smart door locks may also popularize solutions such as ultrasonic fingerprint recognition and UWB unlocking, and integrate multiple solutions to provide greater redundancy.
The changes in the sales volume of the domestic smart door lock industry in 2024 reveal trends such as the B-side market ceding its dominant position to the C-side market, the rise of the online market accelerating the trend of top brands dominating the industry, the intensification of price wars, and enterprises competing in multiple composite biometric technologies. As the smart door lock industry enters a new era, only those that can adapt to the industry’s development and provide products that better meet market requirements can win in the upcoming competition.
Increasing Industry Competition,
AI Becomes a New Killer App
The main force of sales volume in the smart door lock industry has shifted from the B-side to the C-side, and the online market is of crucial importance. Undoubtedly, the biggest beneficiaries are Internet giants such as Xiaomi and Huawei. Even EZVIZ, which has only risen to fame in recent years, saw its online channel sales volume increase by more than 150% year-on-year in 2024 thanks to its brand popularity.
Of course, the compression of the industry’s profit margin caused by price wars has put considerable pressure on smart door lock enterprises. In just the two years of 2023 and 2024, nearly 170 brands exited the industry.
High-end brands like Kaadas and DESSMANN have stronger risk resistance. DESSMANN ranks first in the 1,500 yuan and above segment, while Kaadas is among the top in the 2,000-2,499 yuan range. With a solid high-end market share and strong brand image, these brands can secure revenue while investing in new technologies, product development, and marketing. At the same time, they can gradually expand into lower-tier markets to compete with internet giants entering the industry. For brands looking to grow in the smart door lock industry, product design, pricing strategy, and marketing will be key focus areas.
The C-side market targets individual consumers, and everyone has different preferences and needs, which makes it difficult to satisfy all. This also puts forward higher requirements for enterprises’ product design capabilities. Xiao Lei believes that smart door locks should be based on technology, add more biometric functions, and reduce the risk of products being cracked while improving their convenience of use.
In terms of price, the focus should be on lower-tier markets. Reducing prices is always the simplest and most effective way to improve product competitiveness. Marketing is more complicated. Enterprises need to place advertisements on various platforms or display the experience upgrades brought by smart door locks through live broadcasts.
In addition, the smart door lock industry is also actively integrating AI. Using AI to improve recognition accuracy and unlocking efficiency will become an inevitable choice for the industry in the future. AI technology can not only enhance the user experience but also be used for “showing off” in marketing.
For example, the K7G Plus smart door lock under TCL has added 3D structured light unlocking and AI functions. It can accurately identify users in various complex lighting scenarios and become more and more user-friendly with use. The 24-hour AI sentry cat’s eye can also intelligently observe the dynamics of the front door, automatically filter pedestrians, and send timely reminders to the homeowner in case of special situations.
However, focusing on the C-side market does not mean giving up the B-side market. For example, the Kaadas brand, which focuses on the high-end market, has launched a smart rental solution, combining smart door locks with the rental housing market. Xinhua News Agency reported that the potential rental housing stock in China has exceeded 60 million units.
According to the “Research Report on Strategic Integrity Suppliers in the Chinese Real Estate Industry Chain in 2024”, in the field of smart door lock building materials, Kaadas ranks first among domestic brands with a first-choice rate of 10.26%. If it can promote the widespread use of smart door locks in rental housing, Kaadas will not have to worry about sales volume in the next few years.
The door lock of the house that Xiao Lei is currently renting supports NFC and password unlocking. After copying the NFC function to a mobile phone or some brands of smartwatches, it can be unlocked by touching, which is very convenient, and there is no need to worry about forgetting to bring the key when going out.
Another domestic smart home enterprise, Orvibo, has also set its sights on whole-house intelligence and launched a high-end whole-house customization solution. Many consumers choose the smart door locks of Xiaomi and Huawei. In addition to being influenced by their brands, another reason is that they are using mobile phones of the same brand, and devices of the same brand are more convenient for App and voice control. If consumers buy smart home devices of different brands, they may need to install multiple Apps, which is more troublesome to control.
Whether it is Kaadas’ smart rental solution or Orvibo’s whole-house intelligence, they are essentially about simplifying complexity and improving the convenience for users to manage and use smart devices. Creating a complete set of smart solutions may become the key for traditional home appliance enterprises to resist brands with digital and technological themes such as Xiaomi, Huawei, and TCL. In the future, smart door locks may also explore markets such as smart parks and smart buildings, targeting property management and office park scenarios.
Top Brands Compete Domestically
Small and Medium-sized Brands Seek Opportunities Overseas
The domestic sliding smart door lock industry is transitioning from the growth stage to the maturity stage and can no longer maintain a high growth rate. However, the year-on-year decline in sales volume in 2024 is unlikely to occur again in the next few years as relevant enterprises gradually adapt to the C-side market.
After the shrinkage of the B-side market, the C-side market will become the main force driving the growth of smart door lock sales volume. Consumers’ complex needs will also prompt relevant enterprises to increase their investment in technology research and development, that is, they will compete in both products and prices. However, the rise of online channels and the C-side market has intensified the trend of top brands dominating the industry, and the situation of small brands will become more difficult.
Lowering prices to penetrate lower-tier markets and engage in price wars, integrating AI and multiple unlocking solutions to enrich product functions, and doing a good job in marketing planning to enhance brand influence are inevitable choices for smart door lock brands in the new era. Top brands with strong financial and technical strength have more advantages in both price wars and adding more functions to their products, and they also have higher brand influence.
As the country with the highest industrial output value in the world and the world’s largest consumer market with a population of 1.4 billion, competition in all industries in China is extremely fierce. If the domestic market is no longer sustainable, smart door lock enterprises can find another way and enter the overseas market.
Aoweiyun.com mentioned in the “White Paper on the Chinese Sliding Smart Door Lock Industry” that the penetration rate of smart door locks in China was approximately 27.9% in 2024. According to Lotu Technology, the penetration rate of smart door locks in the overseas market is less than 3%, and most products mainly use fingerprint unlocking and password unlocking, with insufficiently rich functions. Selling products from the domestic market to the overseas market can be regarded as a “downward compatibility” attack.
The overseas market, with relatively low market competition intensity and great development potential, may be an opportunity for domestic smart door lock enterprises. By leveraging the huge overseas market, smart door lock brands may be able to obtain returns no less than those in the domestic market. And just like ANKER in the digital accessories industry, it is not too late to return to the domestic market after achieving certain results in the overseas market.
