Planning Your Smart Home Upgrades for 2024
The end of the year is the perfect time to take stock of your smart home setup and plan improvements for the year ahead. Whether you spent 2023 building out your system or you're just getting started, having a plan prevents impulse purchases and helps you build something that actually works well together.
Here's my practical guide to planning your smart home upgrades for 2024, based on what's coming, what's worth buying now, and what you should absolutely wait on.
What to Watch in 2024
Matter 1.2 Expands Device Support
The Matter specification is adding support for several major device categories in version 1.2, expected in the first half of 2024. Robot vacuums, refrigerators, dishwashers, washing machines, and other major appliances will finally have a Matter standard. This means your Roborock or iRobot vacuum could work across Apple Home, Google Home, and Alexa without needing separate integrations for each.
Even more significantly, energy management devices are coming to Matter — EV chargers, solar inverters, and battery storage systems. If you're planning any energy-related smart home upgrades, Matter support should be on your requirements list.
Thread Networks Will Get Better
Thread mesh networks improve as you add more devices, and 2024 will see the network effect really kick in. As of late 2023, a typical household might have 2-3 Thread border routers. By the end of 2024, that number could be 5-8 as more smart speakers, displays, and hubs include Thread radios. More border routers equals better coverage, faster response times, and more reliable devices.
The practical advice: if you're buying any smart home hub or speaker in 2024, check that it includes a Thread border router. HomePod Mini, Apple TV 4K, Echo (4th gen), and Samsung SmartThings Station all qualify. Having at least two Thread border routers in your home is the minimum for a stable mesh.
WiFi 7 Arrives (But You Don't Need It Yet)
WiFi 7 routers from TP-Link, ASUS, Netgear, and others will drop to more accessible price points in 2024. WiFi 7 brings wider channels, multi-link operation, and theoretical speeds over 40 Gbps. Sounds impressive, but here's the reality: virtually no smart home device needs WiFi 7. Your smart plugs, cameras, and sensors work fine on WiFi 5. Even 4K streaming only needs about 25 Mbps.
WiFi 6E mesh systems, on the other hand, are hitting sweet spots in 2024. A good WiFi 6E mesh (like the TP-Link Deco XE75 or ASUS ZenWiFi ET8) will handle dozens of smart home devices without breaking a sweat, and prices should continue dropping. If your current router struggles with 30+ connected devices, a WiFi 6E mesh upgrade is money well spent.
AI Meets the Smart Home
This is the wild card for 2024. Amazon has been promising an Alexa overhaul powered by large language models. Google is integrating Gemini across its products. Apple is reportedly working on Siri improvements using their own AI models. The promise is natural language automation: instead of saying "Alexa, turn on the living room lights and set them to 50% and set the thermostat to 72," you'd say "Alexa, make it cozy in here" and have the assistant figure out what that means based on your preferences and context.
Whether any of this ships in a meaningful way in 2024 remains to be seen. My advice: don't buy any product specifically because it promises "AI-powered" features. Buy products that work well today, and treat any AI improvements as a bonus if and when they actually arrive.
What to Buy Now
Matter-Compatible Devices
Any device you buy today should support Matter if the option exists. Matter-certified lights, plugs, switches, locks, and sensors are available right now from brands like Eve, Nanoleaf, Aqara, Meross, TP-Link, and Belkin. These devices are future-proof in the sense that they'll work with any Matter controller — if you switch from Google to Apple or vice versa, your devices come with you.
Thread Border Routers
As mentioned above, aim for at least two Thread border routers in your home. Place them in different areas for maximum coverage. If you're buying a smart speaker or display anyway, just make sure it includes Thread. This is passive future-proofing that requires zero extra effort.
Presence Sensors
mmWave presence sensors like the Aqara FP2 ($55) are worth buying right now. They're a mature technology at this point, the prices are reasonable, and the automation possibilities they unlock — lights that stay on while you're sitting still, rooms that respond to actual occupancy rather than motion — are transformative. If you automate one new thing in 2024, make it presence-based lighting.
A Solid WiFi 6E Mesh System
If you're running a router from 2019 or earlier, it's time. A WiFi 6E mesh system with 3 nodes will cover most homes and handle 75+ connected devices without issues. Budget $250-400 for a good three-pack. This is infrastructure that'll serve you well for 5+ years and makes everything else in your smart home work better.
What to Wait On
First-Gen WiFi 7 Routers
WiFi 7 routers shipping in early 2024 will be overpriced ($300-700 for a single router) and most devices won't support WiFi 7 for years. The technology is real and eventually worth adopting, but early 2024 is the worst time to buy. Wait for second-gen products and price drops, likely late 2024 or early 2025.
Matter Cameras
The Matter camera specification hasn't been finalized yet. Don't hold off on buying a security camera if you need one — just buy a good camera that works with your current platform. The Reolink RLC-810A ($55) and Google Nest Cam ($100) are solid choices. When Matter cameras eventually ship, they'll be new products, not firmware updates to existing ones.
Products Promising "AI-Powered" Features
If a product's main selling point is AI features that aren't available yet or require a subscription, skip it. Buy products that do useful things today. AI integration will come to existing platforms through software updates — you don't need to buy new hardware to get it.
Smart Appliances (Maybe)
With Matter 1.2 adding appliance support, buying a $2,000 smart refrigerator or $1,500 smart washer in early 2024 means you might miss better interoperability that ships later in the year. If you're not in a rush, waiting for Matter-certified appliances could save you from ecosystem lock-in. If your current appliance is dying, though, don't wait — just buy what works for you now.
Budget Planning
I recommend budgeting $500-1,000 per year for smart home improvements, broken up into quarterly projects. This keeps spending manageable and prevents the common mistake of buying everything at once and never properly setting it up.
Suggested Quarterly Breakdown
- Q1 (January-March): Infrastructure — networking upgrades, hub additions, Thread border routers. This is the foundation everything else builds on. Budget: $200-300.
- Q2 (April-June): Outdoor season — outdoor lighting, garden sensors, garage automation, exterior cameras. Take advantage of spring weather for installations. Budget: $150-250.
- Q3 (July-September): Energy management — smart thermostat optimization, fan automation, energy monitoring. Summer electricity bills motivate these upgrades. Budget: $100-200.
- Q4 (October-December): Holiday deals — this is when you stock up on devices at Black Friday/Cyber Monday prices and set up holiday automations. Budget: $150-300.
The 2024 Resolution: One Project Per Quarter
Here's the most important advice I can give: pick one automation project per quarter and do it right. Don't try to automate your entire house in January. A single well-designed automation — like presence-based lighting in your living room, or a proper morning routine that adjusts lights, thermostat, and music — adds more value to your daily life than a dozen half-configured devices.
One project per quarter means four meaningful improvements by the end of the year. That's a dramatically better smart home without the overwhelm.
How Far We've Come
I want to end on an encouraging note. Five years ago, setting up a basic smart home required research into competing protocols, app ecosystems that didn't talk to each other, and devices that regularly went offline for no apparent reason. Today, you can walk into a store, buy a Matter device, scan a QR code, and have it working in 30 seconds on any major platform.
It's not perfect. There's still too much fragmentation, too many subscriptions, and too much cloud dependency. But the trajectory is clearly positive. Thread is making devices more reliable. Matter is making them more interoperable. Local processing is making them more private. And competition is keeping prices reasonable.
Whatever you're planning for your smart home in 2024, you're building on the strongest foundation the industry has ever had. Plan thoughtfully, buy carefully, and automate one thing at a time. Your future self will thank you.