- More than 85 per cent of the householders surveyed in Chennai also owned VR glasses
- Pune and Mumbai featured lowest on the list of the owners of smart-home devices
- Gurgaon residents had the highest number of air purifiers
Chennai householders are officially the nation’s gadget geeks, possessing the highest volume of personal technology and gadgets within their homes, while those from Pune possess the least, according to new study published by Mahindra Lifespace Developers Limited (MLDL). The inaugural study aimed to understand the future needs of home buyers and the level of adoption of smart-home devices in today’s homes.
“Increasing affordability of data plans and wider choice of data based options – both devices and content, has resulted in most smart home gadgets being WiFi and Bluetooth enabled. People are looking to raise convenience and quality of life by raising the tech levels of their home with the latest and innovative gadgets,” noted Sunil Sharma, chief customer officer, Mahindra Lifespaces.
This study was undertaken among over 1,000 householders in seven cities in India. Respondents were questioned about the presence of various technologies within their homes ranging from smart TVs, smart lighting, and smart watches, to voice-activated devices and air purifiers.
Gurgaon tops air purifiers, Chennai smart-home products
Chennai had the highest average presence of innovative smart-home gadgets such as VR glasses, VR headsets, smartwatches, and intelligent systems – Amazon Echo and Google Home. As a matter of fact, Chennai’s ranking reflects the fact that 86 per cent of local householders own VR glasses, 77 per cent own smartwatches and 78 per cent own wireless charging devices in their homes.
“These insights are corroborated by other research confirming Chennai’s ‘Gadget geek’ credentials. For instance, Chennai has the highest internet and smart-phone penetration and also exhibits high literacy with respect to technology as compared to other cities. Additionally, as per the latest report by Ookla, Chennai also has the fastest mean download speed for a fixed broadband connection,” read Mahindra’s official statement.
According to the study findings, the domestic geek mantle then passes to Hyderabad. The city has more than two-thirds (68 per cent) of it’s householders owning VR glasses, 71 per cent owning wireless charging devices, and 76 per cent owning at least one ‘Google Home’ device. Gurgaon residents had the highest number of air purifiers (84 per cent) followed by Bengaluru (54 per cent).
Silicon valley of India
Surprisingly, in third place was Bangalore with a score of 3,476, often described as the ‘Silicon Valley of India’ and actually containing the highest number of techies and startup businesses. The city has a high influx of millennials in search of white-collar jobs due to the presence of IT and tech companies.
“This suggests that the tech-savvy nature has created a significant demand for smart devices even within the home space. Its household tech adoption closely follows that of Hyderabad with 63 per cent Bengaluru householders owning VR glasses, 66 per cent owning smart lighting devices, and 58 per cent owning wireless charging devices in their homes,” read the survey report.
It continued, “Pune and Mumbai featured lowest on the list of the owners of smart-home devices with 2,083 and 3,013 points respectively. Mumbai stood at the penultimate position as 48 per cent of householders owning smartwatches, 41 per cent owned Amazon Echo, and 48 per cent owned a smart lighting system at their homes. Pune came last with least tech-savvy householders and only 23 per cent owned google chrome cast, 31 per cent owned wireless charging devices, and 27 per cent owned smartwatches.”
“The home buyers are now seeking homes compatible with smart home functions as it eases their living in today’s fast-paced world and make it richer,” added Sunil.
