Every new year brings with it a wealth of new and exciting trends, services and products. Designed to help make our lives at home much easier.

With more time than ever spent at home in 2020, perhaps you've already implemented new changes such as a smart home system or voice activated lights? Maybe it's something that you're fascinated by? But, what we do know is that each year, the technology becomes more sophisticated and advanced. Once you make the switch to technology like this you'll wonder how you ever functioned before.

If you're interested in technology to help take the load off you at home or to just make your life a bit easier, here are some home technology trends to look out for in 2021.

Smart Home Technology

Smart home technology has been around for a little while now. But each year it's becoming more advanced and accessible than before. Smart home technology puts you in control of the little things in your home that amount to a lot. They can control your lighting, heating, music, security systems and beyond. Some systems can even be voice activated by demand.

Smartphones to Replace Hubs

As it stands, most smart home technology is controlled by a central hub in your home. Even this now seems outdated. With the ability to pretty much do everything at the touch of a few buttons on a smartphone, the future will see smartphones wholly replacing hubs.

Smart home hubs already run on wifi activation. This is typically always in the palm of our hand with our phones anyway. A selection of smart home technologies already do include an app. However, for the industry to keep evolving we see smartphones replacing hubs completely in an easy to use app.

Security Systems

Security is a leading trend within the smart home industry. The use of AI in security has already provided fantastic systems including facial recognition, remote controlled locks and video door alarms. So, what next?

According to a report by Forbes, robots are no longer just a pipe dream, even humanoid ones. These AI 'domestic helpers' would rely on machine learning and could even be deployed to households where additional help is needed. Such as where mobility is difficult for residents. They would also act as an extra set of eyes. If they sense someone has fallen or needs assistance, then they would be able to step in.

Kitchen Technology

As far as things go in the home, the kitchen is one room that seems to be striding ahead with innovative technology. As if lighting, heating and music wasn't enough, intelligent refrigerators are something new, exciting and possibly life changing.

An intelligent refrigerator will have the ability to track the shelf life of products, analysis of next purchases and tracking what needs to be replenished. As well as synchronising with other kitchen devices.

Smart ovens are a thing too. They can automatically set the temperature for the dish being cooked and have the ability to regulate the heating depending on family members preferences.

We can expect to see the advancement of other technologies already available such as pressure cookers, smart bars and mixers. After all, the kitchen is the heart of the home!

Decor Friendly Smart Home Technology

As it stands, smart homes can appear to be quite obtrusive and can stick out like a sore thumb if you have a specific theme in your home. Most smart home hubs tend to be white or black, and that's as far as it goes.

In 2021, we can see that more aesthetically pleasing smart home technology will be released that will blend into your decor and become part of the setup rather than being an eye sore. This will start to encourage more home owners to think about investing in this technology.

It can be difficult to predict the future of home technology, but as things progress, 2021 looks like a really great year for smart home technology. Helping to make our lives at home that bit easier.