What's up in the smart home hub?

Before you buy, know these trends.

Smart homes have “brains”, hubs, gateways and central controllers, that link Wi-Fi, Z-Wave or ZigBee lights and thermostats, smart locks, switches, sensors and more to each other. Without hubs, the smart home won’t be how convenient it is today. Buyers loved these products for they can automate the entire home with only one device.

Today, some voice assistant devices can do those things but smart home hubs still have a nice appeal thanks to fresh designs and features. Interested in sourcing hubs? Before you buy, know these trends:

   • Compact size - Smart home hubs and controllers before are like big routers. You should be looking now for compact versions. There are      releases that come as cube clickers and socket night lights or like the size of a power bank or flash drive. These are more space-saving      than many AI speakers.

   • AR - Imagine a floating menu in the air you can press when you open your smart home hub. Gesture-activated AR home hubs have started to be developed already years ago and this can be a unique selling advantage.

   • Voice control - Some smart home hubs such as Wink Hub 2 are now compatible with voice-assistants like Amazon Alexa.

   • LCDs - Some of the new smart home hubs in the market integrate screens. Having screens means they are somehow as easy to use like      tablet PCs. An example is the Securify Almond 3 smart home system.

Find more of these trendy smart home hubs, gatewaysand controllers at Global Sources.