Samsung’s rapid growth in connected appliances in India points to a broader shift in how urban households are adopting technology inside the home. The company says newly connected Samsung appliances in India rose from 82,000 in 2022 to 7,32,000 last year, while more than half of the appliances it currently sells in the country are AI-enabled. The numbers indicate that connected-home adoption is no longer limited to a small premium segment, although affordability and the practical value of these features will determine how far the trend can spread.
The significance of the shift lies in the changing relationship between households and domestic infrastructure. Appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines and other large home devices are increasingly being presented not as standalone products, but as connected systems that can be monitored, updated and integrated through software. For urban consumers managing longer working hours, dense daily schedules and smaller household routines, the appeal is linked less to novelty than to convenience and control.
Samsung Electronics Vice President and Head of Experience Planning and CX Insight Group, Digital Appliances Business, Bona Lee, attributed the growth in India and Southwest Asia largely to younger consumers. She said 71 per cent of active SmartThings users in India and Southwest Asia are in their twenties and thirties, compared with a global average of 48 per cent. That difference places younger urban households at the centre of the company’s connected-home strategy.
The figures also show how quickly a technology category can expand when it is connected to an existing consumer base rather than introduced as an entirely new form of infrastructure. Samsung said the number of newly connected appliances in India increased nine-fold over three years. It also said Southwest Asia’s share of Samsung’s connected devices worldwide rose from 2 per cent in 2022 to 13 per cent in 2026, and that the company had already exceeded the previous year’s number of connected appliances in the first eight months of the current year.
These figures are Samsung’s own reported metrics and refer to its connected devices and SmartThings ecosystem. They do not establish the overall size of India’s AI-appliance market or show how Samsung’s performance compares with every competing brand. They do, however, offer a view of how one major manufacturer is reading demand in a market where urban households are increasingly receptive to digitally enabled domestic products.
The company says the demand is being shaped by the pressures of urban life. A survey by Samsung’s India Consumer Experience unit across Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru found that busy, high-stress urban lifestyles were driving interest in AI appliances. The source material does not provide the survey’s sample size, methodology or detailed findings, so its results cannot be treated as a representative measure of all Indian households. But the four-city focus reflects a significant commercial reality: early adoption is likely to be closely tied to metropolitan consumers who have higher exposure to connected devices and greater familiarity with app-based services.
This is where the connected-home story intersects with urban planning and the built environment. Homes are not only physical spaces; they are operating environments in which residents manage food storage, cleaning, cooling, energy use and time. When appliances gain software capabilities, part of that management shifts from manual control to digital interfaces. The change may be modest at the level of one refrigerator or washing machine, but its cumulative effect is to make the home more dependent on connectivity, software support and device compatibility.
Samsung says it plans to extend AI capabilities beyond premium products to mid-range and entry-level appliances. This is important because the company’s own executives acknowledge that the average selling price of home appliances in India is lower than in some other countries. Lee said this reflected Indian consumers’ lifestyle needs, including a preference for smaller refrigerators because households often buy fresh produce daily rather than storing large quantities of frozen food.
That explanation places product design in the context of everyday urban consumption. A smaller refrigerator is not necessarily a lower-technology product; it responds to household size, kitchen space, purchasing patterns and food habits. The same principle applies to other appliances. For connected technology to move beyond affluent early adopters, features must fit the physical constraints and routines of Indian homes rather than simply reproduce products designed for other markets.
The company’s localisation claims are also significant. Samsung said more than 95 per cent of its appliances sold in India are manufactured domestically and that a dedicated team works on products tailored to Indian culture and lifestyles. Domestic manufacturing can improve the fit between product design and local demand, while also reducing the distance between Indian consumers and the production ecosystem. However, the supplied material does not establish how much of the software, component supply chain or after-sales infrastructure is localised.
The question of affordability is therefore more complicated than the initial purchase price. Samsung said AI-enabled products would be launched in India broadly in line with other global markets, with only minor variations to accommodate region-specific features. Lee also said software updates could extend new features to appliances launched in 2024 and beyond, without requiring consumers to purchase new devices. If sustained, that model could lengthen the useful life of connected appliances. It also makes continued software support an important part of the product’s value.
This creates a different kind of consumer dependence. A conventional appliance can remain useful as long as its mechanical and electrical components work. A connected appliance may also depend on updates, an operating ecosystem and access to digital services. The source does not state what happens when software support ends, whether all features remain available offline or how data generated by connected appliances is managed. Those questions are not evidence of a problem in Samsung’s current offering, but they are central to assessing the long-term urban implications of connected domestic infrastructure.
Samsung said the average usage of its AI features among Indian consumers is 10 per cent higher than in other countries. Again, the supplied report does not define the metric, the comparison group or the time period. The figure should therefore be read as a company-reported indicator rather than a standalone measure of national adoption. Even so, it supports Samsung’s argument that Indian consumers are not merely buying AI-enabled appliances for their specifications; they are actively using at least some of the available features.
The company’s global ambitions provide another layer of context. Samsung announced earlier this year that it aimed to extend AI features to 800 million devices by the end of the year, up from 400 million the previous year. India is being positioned as an important market in that expansion because of the growth of connected appliances and the high proportion of younger SmartThings users.
The strategy also shows how appliance manufacturers are redefining the boundaries of the home-technology market. The immediate sale is a physical product, but the longer-term relationship is built through connectivity, updates and a common platform. The expansion of AI features into mid-range and entry-level appliances could broaden that relationship, provided the additional functions are useful, affordable and supported over time.
For Indian cities, the larger issue is not whether every household will become an AI-enabled home. The more relevant question is how digital systems are entering ordinary urban routines and what infrastructure they require. Connected appliances depend on reliable electricity, household internet access and users who can navigate digital interfaces. They also create expectations about service, maintenance and software continuity. These requirements sit below the level of large public infrastructure, but they are part of the increasingly networked built environment.
The evidence currently confirms a strong growth signal from Samsung’s Indian business, particularly among younger users and in major metropolitan markets. It also confirms a planned move towards wider availability across price segments, domestic manufacturing and products adapted to Indian consumption patterns. What remains unclear is the scale of adoption across the wider appliance market, the durability of software support, the cost of ownership and the distribution of benefits beyond affluent and highly connected households.
Samsung’s next phase will test whether its reported momentum can translate into durable mass adoption. The key developments to monitor are the rollout of AI-enabled mid-range and entry-level appliances, the continuity of software updates for existing devices and the extent to which product design responds to the spatial, economic and lifestyle realities of Indian urban homes.
