Roku to Stop Selling Smart Home Devices and Refocus on Streaming

Roku has confirmed it is leaving the smart home market and will stop selling smart home hardware, days after Fox completed its $22 billion takeover of the company. The company said it is sharpening its focus on its core mission of being the top streaming platform, while continuing support and services for Roku Smart Home products.

What is winding down

Only two of Roku's smart home devices remain in stock on the brand's web store: the Roku Indoor Camera 360° and the Video Doorbell & Chime. Products including smart light strips and bulbs, the wireless video doorbell, other cameras, smart plugs and Roku's home monitoring system are listed as out of stock. Lowpass noted that these devices are no longer available at many third-party retailers either, and Amazon now only offers refurbished models.

A gradual shift

Lowpass added that Roku has been gradually shifting away from smart home products for the past several months, and the company stopped mentioning such devices in its earnings reports earlier this year. Roku started making a push into the smart home market in 2022 with rebadged versions of Wyze products, and it started releasing its own smart home hardware last year.

Business context

Earlier this month, Roku posted its final earnings report before joining Fox. Device revenue grew 33 percent year-over-year in the third quarter, but hardware losses more than doubled in that same timeframe, from $22.9 million to $48.6 million. Roku blamed those losses largely on increased costs of memory components. The company said its device revenue is based on its own players and TVs, not Roku-branded sets that other companies make, and its own TVs exceeded expectations last quarter. Since then, Roku has released its first OLED sets.

Sources: Engadget