5 Smart Lock Trends: Cutting-Edge Insights
With the continued boom in the domestic smart lock market, offline exhibitions for smart locks have garnered significant attention from industry professionals. Based on my recent observations at two major exhibitions, the venues were packed with visitors.
In this article, I will summarize my observations on products and industry trends from the Door Expo and Wenzhou Lock Exhibition.
3D Facial Recognition Remains Hot
All-in-One Solutions on the RiseIn terms of biometric recognition features, the products showcased by many brands continue to focus on 3D facial recognition, which remains highly popular.Palm vein recognition, a rising star in biometric recognition over the past couple of years, was also prominent at the exhibition. Notably, we observed an increasing prevalence of combinations such as 3D facial recognition + palm vein + peephole.Regarding all-in-one module suppliers, reliable sources indicate that several exhibiting brands are using DeepGlint’s module solutions.
This company enjoys a stellar reputation in the industry, thanks to its strong technical expertise in 3D machine vision and artificial intelligence. Its products are not only highly secure but also cost-effective, winning widespread market approval.
Price Drop in “Precision Carved” Locks
This year’s exhibition saw an even more pronounced trend of CNC precision-carved products. As the craftsmanship becomes more mature, the price of precision-carved locks has decreased, attracting more brands to enter the market.From our observations at the exhibition, more than half of the brands displayed CNC precision-carved locks. Compared to last year, the prices of these locks have further dropped, mostly staying under 500 yuan.It is noteworthy that many brands claiming to offer precision-carved locks actually use CNC technology only on certain components rather than the entire body, thereby saving costs.
The Trend of Multi-Camera Systems Sweeps
the IndustrySince last year, multi-camera systems have become a new product trend. At this year’s Yongkang Door Expo, we noticed a significant increase in multi-camera smart locks, with many manufacturers highlighting this feature in their promotions.The multi-camera smart locks displayed mainly came in three types: dual front cameras, dual front and rear cameras, and triple cameras. In terms of image quality, the secondary cameras generally have lower resolution than the primary camera, typically around one megapixel.
Dual Screens and Dual Batteries Gaining Popularity
Due to the increasing functions of smart locks reducing product battery life and for stability considerations, dual-battery solutions have gained more and more popularity among manufacturers in recent years.At these two major exhibitions, many manufacturers introduced dual-battery solutions. Some adopted a combination of lithium and dry batteries, while others used dual lithium batteries.The dual-battery solution offers the advantage of an additional power compartment, enhancing battery life.
Moreover, the two batteries power different functions independently, ensuring the product remains operational under special circumstances.In addition to dual batteries, many smart locks with dual screens were also showcased at the exhibition. However, most products featured a small screen on the front panel, with only a few manufacturers presenting smart locks with large screens on both the front and rear panels. Some of these dual large-screen smart locks used touchscreens, allowing users to perform a series of operations directly on the screen.
Smart Lock Innovations
Besides the commonly known trends mentioned above, we also discovered some notable product innovations at the two exhibitions.For example, at the Wenzhou Lock Exhibition, I noticed a brand called SuoHuang, which introduced a new keyless emergency solution, as shown in the video below:You can see that this smart lock has no keyhole, replaced by a knob that requires fingerprint verification.This lock uses a dual-battery and dual-system design. When the primary power source responsible for the main lock functions is low, the backup system battery automatically activates. After successful fingerprint verification, you can unlock the door by simply turning the knob. When the backup power falls below 20%, the main power source recharges it, ensuring normal operation.
Low Prices Persist, Bottom Not Yet Reached
Precision carving, facial recognition, multi-camera systems, dual batteries… Numerous hardware and software features come together to form a smart lock. However, when discussing products, it’s hard to ignore the persistent low-price phenomenon.At this exhibition, there were some astonishingly low prices, such as certain smart locks priced in double digits. However, these are isolated cases and not representative of the general market. Industry statistics consistently show that prices are falling, but the bottom price point remains unclear.
