Connected thermostats entered the market around 10 years ago, coinciding with the rise of in-home Wi-Fi, smartphones with apps to control Wi-Fi enabled technology, and — within the past two years — voice-controlled AI like Google Home, Apple HomePod, and Amazon Alexa and Echo. Per a 2017 report by Juniper Research, an estimated 55 percent of U.S. households will have at least one smart speaker by 2022, for a total of 175 million.