Business Combinations - Pro Forma Results (Details) - Residential Control Systems, Inc - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Net sales	$ 696,352	$ 659,272
Net income (loss)	(10,538)	19,997
Net income (loss) attributable to Universal Electronics Inc.	$ (10,538)	$ 19,967
Basic earnings (loss) per share attributable to Universal Electronics, Inc. (in dollars per share)	$ (0.0073)	$ 1.38
Diluted earnings (loss) per share attributable to Universal Electronics, Inc. (in dollars per share)	$ (0.0073)	$ 1.35

Business Acquisition, Pro Forma Net Income (Loss), Attributable to Parent

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- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

The pro forma basic net income per share for a period as if the business combination or combinations had been completed at the beginning of a period.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 805
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (h)(2)-(3)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=79982066&loc=d3e1392-128463

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- Definition

The pro forma diluted net income per share for a period as if the business combination or combinations had been completed at the beginning of a period.

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The pro forma net Income or Loss for the period as if the business combination or combinations had been completed at the beginning of a period.

+ References

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The pro forma revenue for a period as if the business combination or combinations had been completed at the beginning of the period.

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