(Yicai Global) April 7 -- Sales of household surveillance cameras in China are expected to surge 7.5 percent this year from the year before as demand jumps amid the emergence of new application scenarios, such as keeping an eye on children, parents and pets, according to the latest data.

Some 21.5 million set of smart home cameras are expected to sell this year in China as people return to their busy schedules with the lifting of pandemic prevention measures, according to a report released by US market research firm International Data Corp. today.

And the market is expected to grow by double digits in the next few years to just below 40 million units by 2027, Framington-based IDC said.

Last year, sales dipped 1.6 percent year on year to 20 million cameras due to sluggish demand. But both camera hardware and software were upgraded significantly during this period, producing models with much better resolution and night vision.

Security cameras need to leverage artificial intelligence to become smarter and create new user scenarios, IDC said. Face recognition and moving object detection should be finetuned further and new functions such as parcel recognition developed.

About 70 percent of smart cameras can access wireless internet to interact with other intelligent devices, but this interaction is limited to the most basic functions such as turning themselves on and off, IDC said. Manufacturers should increase device connectivity and enrich interactive capabilities to broaden their market.

Editor: Kim Taylor