5 smart home trends to watch in 2026

As energy costs rise, daily life becomes more expensive and environmental awareness grows, homeowners are increasingly seeking smarter solutions to save on their regular expenses. Smart systems that optimise heating, cooling and lighting based on your habits can reduce energy bills by up to 30%. Additionally, it has never been easier to integrate solar panels and battery storage thanks to unified home automation systems. Combined with a smart meter, you’ll use your own generated energy only when and where you want.

AI will definitely play a role in the increased energy efficiency of your smart home. Machine learning models continuously refine these decisions, and it’s therefore estimated that it will help reduce your energy costs by 25-40% (based on the blog article by Homewizards).

Home security has advanced beyond simple alarms to systems that work together seamlessly. Smart cameras, smart sensors (from motion sensors to smoke detectors) and door locks that communicate with each other provide complete peace of mind. With real-time alerts, you can control access from anywhere, whether at work or on holiday. The integration of your home security into your smart home setup means you can access your home from anywhere. One app, one overview, and one less thing to worry about.
Also in home security, AI will be a great addition. Because machine learning models are more and more integrated in smart devices and systems by default, the performance of your devices will be monitored more accurately. Thanks to AI (and its regular system updates), you’ll receive notifications when your appliances start to underperform before a defect is even present.