In 2025, when AI technology is deeply penetrated, smart homes have entered the critical stage of “system implementation” from “conceptual hype”.
Industrial competition is no longer limited to single product performance or price, but a comprehensive competition of system integration, ecological synergy and long-term service capabilities.
Currently, the industry is forming three typical paths: A.O. Smith, which focuses on “deep integration” of AI home appliances, and creates a high-end home air and water smart experience across the entire chain; Xiaomi, which relies on ecological chains and cost-effective strategies to build an inclusive smart ecosystem; and Huawei, which uses the operating system as the base to promote seamless collaboration in all scenarios.
These different paradigms jointly outline the future picture of China’s smart home.
Industrial changes: Although there are many AI devices, most are still spinning in the “connection layer”.
Currently, my country’s home appliance industry is facing multiple challenges such as inventory competition, serious homogeneity, and stratified user needs.
At the same time, the country promotes policies such as “large-scale equipment renewal”, “age-appropriate transformation” and “smart community construction” to open up trillion-level new space for the industry.
AI has become the key to solving the problem. However, most companies are still stuck at the “device interconnection” or “voice control” level, lacking in-depth system collaboration and data closed loop.
Devices are “connected but not connected” and “connected but not moving”, making it difficult to achieve true scenario-based intelligence.
The industry urgently needs to shift from “function overlay” to “system integration” and from “passive response” to “active service”.
Real breakthroughs will come from companies that can deeply integrate technology, experience, ecology, and services.
Technological disruption: three paths, one future.
In the technological evolution of smart homes, different companies have shown completely different strategic choices.
As a traditional home appliance giant, A.O. Smith focuses on the “deep style” of quality home furnishings. With AI-LiNK full control as the core, it deeply integrates water purification, HVAC, air purification, kitchen and other subsystems to achieve independent equipment collaboration and intelligent decision-making.
The “Digital True Wuheng Integrated System” it launched provides one-stop service from core equipment to construction delivery, establishing a standardized and refined management and control system; the system is highly integrated, and the terminal is customized on demand. Wuheng data is displayed in real-time and accurately, integrating full air temperature regulation and radiation temperature control to achieve full-dimensional comfort of constant temperature, constant humidity, constant oxygen, constant cleanliness and constant quietness; based on the Life-GPT large language model, it supports natural language interaction and can understand complex instructions.
A.O. Smith’s path has strong system closed loop, high experience consistency, and controllable services. It is suitable for high-end customized scenarios, especially in the field of aging-friendly and healthy housing.
As a mobile phone manufacturer, Xiaomi is a “broadness school” that promotes ecological inclusiveness and is committed to bringing AI to thousands of households.
Relying on a huge ecological chain, Xiaomi has built the world’s largest consumer-grade AIoT platform with MIUI and Mijia App, connecting more than 1 billion devices, covering the entire price range from light bulbs worth 100 yuan to home appliances worth 10,000 yuan. Through the smart home hub Pro, cross-device task scheduling and energy consumption optimization can be achieved.
In short, Xiaomi has a rich product matrix, affordable prices, and fast iteration speeds. Through Xiaomi Home, it forms a closed loop of “experience + service” to truly realize “inclusive intelligence.”
As an ecosystem provider integrating software and hardware, Huawei is a “connectionist” with full-scenario intelligence, relying on HarmonyOS and “1 + 8 +
N” strategy has built the most systematic scenario-based smart ecosystem.
Its core concept is “equipment has no sense of collaboration, and service moves with people.”
For example, watching movies on a mobile phone can be cast to the smart screen with one click, and calls can be automatically switched to the speaker; the “Super Terminal” can be pulled and closed without complicated pairing.
This solution has strong system-level collaboration capabilities and high security and privacy guarantees, and is especially suitable for home office, mobile office and other scenarios.
Although these three paths have different emphases, they all promote the industry to move from the “connection era” to the “intelligent era”.
User-oriented: from “functional satisfaction” to “life reshaping”.
No matter what the technical path is, it must ultimately return to the real needs of consumers.
The three companies have reached the same goal through different paths, and all have a deep understanding that “real user needs” are the starting point for innovation.
As a foreign company, A.O. Smith has been rooted in China for nearly 30 years. It has always been known for its in-depth insight into Chinese consumers. The laboratory is in China and the R&D team is all Chinese. Its technological innovation comes from the insight into the needs of Chinese families. It strives to practice “in China, for China” and launches products based on consumers’ expectations for instant hot water.
It has launched a “zero cold water” gas water heater, launched a “small stainless steel water heater” to address the high water-alkali problem in the north, and launched a full-time high-efficiency water purifier to address the pain point of “the first cup of water is not clean”, all of which have become industry benchmarks. Through the industrial academy, it has systematically improved its construction and after-sales service capabilities, cultivated a professional service team, and ensured “good products”
= good experience”.
Xiaomi focuses on “affordability” and “ease of use” for ordinary families.
From the product line, Xiaomi has mobile phones, routers, smart speakers, TVs, and further extends to air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, rice cookers, sweepers, air purifiers, lamps, sockets, and curtain motors. It has corresponding electrical appliances that consumers can think of in their home life. On this basis, Xiaomi has launched a minimalist mode and a voice care version so that the elderly can also enjoy smart convenience, and realize “online ordering and offline services” through the new retail network.
Huawei focuses on users’ “seamless experience” and directly turns the house into a huge “Hongmeng mobile phone”. It emphasizes “fool-like” use and upgrades home appliances from “device response” to “spatial understanding.” For example, who is at home, in which room, what they are doing, and what their preferences for the environment are. This information is handed over to the system for perception, reasoning, and execution as much as possible.
What Huawei wants to do is an “operating system for the home”. It skips the ecology of single products and directly touches the intelligence of the whole house, not just “a few more small appliances that can be interconnected.”
Future potential: open collaboration and jointly build a smart home “community of destiny”.
Although leading companies have made remarkable achievements, the ultimate goal of smart homes – “senseless, active, personalized” smart life, still requires a collaborative breakthrough across the entire industry.
At present, brand barriers still exist, protocols are not unified, equipment compatibility is poor, “last mile” services such as installation, construction, and after-sales have not yet been standardized, and user data security and privacy protection mechanisms also need to be improved.
In the future, we look forward to the openness of the ecosystem and the integration of the system. For example, A.O. Smith has joined forces with Panasonic, Samsung, EZVIZ and others to explore industry alliances, and Xiaomi and Huawei support the Matter Agreement, which are all important steps towards openness.
In the future, more companies will need to put down their “ecological walls” and form a super ecology of “powerful alliances”.
Conclusion: The trio plays the future of China’s smart home.
The three companies represent three possibilities for smart homes: A.O. Smith tells us: intelligence can be very “deep”, so deep that it can be integrated into every detail of wind, water, temperature, and humidity; Xiaomi tells us: intelligence can be very “broad”, so broad that it covers every family and every kind of life; Huawei tells us: intelligence can be very “smooth”, so smooth that no perception is needed, and the service is already there.
Their parallel development is not competition, but complementarity; not substitution, but co-advancement.
When depth, breadth and connectivity converge, China’s smart home may usher in a true “golden age”.
