Sofia/Frankfurt – Shelly Europe, once an insider tip for smart-home tinkerers, is making a play for market leadership in the security segment. As the Bulgarian company hinted ahead of the Light + Building 2026 trade fair (8 to 13 March), its portfolio is set to gain a long-awaited component: the Shelly Camera.
From the simple flush-mount relay to the complex energy meter – Shelly has undergone an impressive evolution in recent years. The brand is now regarded as the top dog for users who value local control and flexibility. After excursions into niche areas such as smart diffusers, the company is now returning to its core and closing one of the last major gaps in its ecosystem with the new camera range.
Local Control Instead of Subscription Lock-In
Although detailed technical specifications are still being kept under wraps, the strategic direction is already taking shape. While heavyweights such as Ring (Amazon) or Nest (Google) often tie their hardware closely to paid cloud subscriptions, Shelly is likely to stay true to its established ethos.
Industry experts expect consistent support for open standards such as RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol) and ONVIF. This would allow users to integrate the video streams directly into local Network Video Recorders (NVR) or onto a home NAS (for example from Synology or QNAP). For the growing community of “local-only” advocates, this is a decisive buying argument.
Targeting the “Single-App” Strategy
For Shelly, the move into the camera market is more than just a hardware expansion. At a time when the new Matter standard is improving interoperability between different manufacturers, the company’s own app experience is becoming the most important differentiator.
By integrating live footage into the Shelly app, the system becomes more attractive for so-called “single-app users” – that is, customers who want to control lighting, heating, energy management and now also security from a single interface, without switching back and forth between different applications.
A Fresh Start After “Shelly Eye”
This is not Shelly’s first attempt in the camera segment. Longtime users may still remember the “Shelly Eye,” which fell short of high expectations and was recorded as little more than a footnote in the company’s history. With the new generation for Light + Building 2026, however, the company appears to have learned from the mistakes of the past and is banking on deeper integration into its existing professional portfolio.
Outlook: What Awaits Us in Frankfurt?
The open question remains how Shelly will link the camera hardware with its existing sensors. Automated scenarios are conceivable in which the camera only becomes active – or starts a local recording – when a Shelly Motion Sensor or a door/window contact is triggered.
Official prices and the exact market launch dates are expected right in time for the opening of the trade fair in Frankfurt am Main.
