Americans call it the “European CES.” And they do for a reason. The Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin was inaugurated in the mid-1920s, but it’s been hosted in Berlin only after WWII. Up to a few years ago, most of the big tach companies of the planet used this event as a platform for their most important Christmas launches. The announcements ranged from the latest Samsung smartphone to the speaking Candy washing machine and even the groundbreaking Sony cameras that can be attached to your smartphone. And Shenzhen’s case manufacturer might have also been there with the mockup of the new iPhone Apple hadn’t even released yet.

IFA was the benchmark to understand where technology was headed, plus a cornucopia of must-see experiments for those who followed the tech industry. But that hasn’t been the case for a few years now, mainly due to the inexorable downturn of the smartphone section, which doesn’t have the same push anymore, to a strategic change of direction (companies favor single events), and of course to the pandemic. Many of the big brands that made IFA what it is are absent from this year’s event, like Harman and Lenovo, which only held some presentations in the city, Sony, which only attended with a small booth for their business clients only, and so on. Overall, for a fair open to the general public in the post-covid years, the thrill of finding the latest innovations is missing more and more, and maybe so is its enthusiasm.

The great halls dedicated to audio once resounded with music, a crucial assent in Berlin; even the gaming area was a bit underwhelming this year. This doesn’t mean that IFA is over – it’s simply changing. And so are the technologies we use and buy. We need more simplicity, Harman Christian Schluender explained to Domus, and we can definitely see that. Appliances and kitchens have become popular and their area has expanded, so Samsung took the opportunity to present its first app dedicated to the kitchen, Samsung Cooking. New types of appliances are rising, like energy accumulators and solar panels. There is even room for robots (but there has always been, especially if the robots are the “same old” dogs), but they are the usual circus number. Micromobility is back, but most of the high-end brands are absent from it. There are barely any signs of the Metavese and alike, and it will take another few months for the rebound-effect of Apple’s Vision Pro announcement, then we’ll probably witness an invasion (a new one, once again) of the VR and AR visors.

In addition to the smartphone/purse V Purse, Honor played another trump card at this IFA edition and clearly claimed its position as one of the few companies that still believes in the visibility of the smartphone section of the Berlin’s fair. Magic V2 is the updated version of the first foldable Honor smartphone. Only 1 centimeter thick (9.9 millimeters to be exact), it’s as thin as a regular smartphone (which Honor calls “bar phone”). But when you open it, it reveals a 7.92” display tablet, with a very remarkable battery life. We’ll see whether Honor will manage to create an interface up to this phone’s hardware specifications and one that will take full advantage of the particular characteristics of the foldable format, which may have been the true weakness of the first former sub-brand of Huawei. 

We will probably never know what kind of market research prompted LG to create a portable TV that can fit in a suitcase. What we do know is that the result is a product that only a few will buy but that definitely caught everyone’s attention at the IFA Berlin. The suitcase design is refined and elegant, and the TV inside is a good LG TV complete with Dolby Surround speakers and a vertical mode. The battery lasts about three hours, but it all depends on the volume of the speakers and the set brightness. The brand placed it in a camping diorama, suggesting outdoor use, but it seems to us that it’s a product that representatives and presenters on-the-go will like more. It will be launched in fall and the global price is $999.

At IFA, Lenovo unveiled its new monitor capable of generating a three-dimensional image without requiring the user to wear any type of special glasses. It’s called ThinkVision 27 3D Monitor (leaving no room to creativity) and it works thanks to a proximity sensor that reads the user’s position and controls the panel that projects two different images in each eye, giving a stereoscopic effect. The advantage compared to other solutions is that ThinkVision is not only a 3D screen but, above all, a high-quality traditional 4K monitor. Switching from one mode to the other is basically immediate and it’s quite useful for engineers and 3D sculptors since it allows them to visualize in a more realistic way their creations.

The new projector of the Chinese brand Xgimi merges in a single device both LED and laser projecting technology for a brightness of 2300 ANSI Lumen. The 4K beamer supports Dolby Vision technology. Among its most interesting characteristics there is a real time automatic Keystone correction, which automatically recognizes the free space available on the projected wall and adapts the projected image. Completing the picture is the Harman Kardon audio system and, above all, its design, different from that of previous models for its more elegant lines, which can adapt to any décor.

The headphone manufacturer Urbanista had already applied photovoltaic technology to its headphones in the Los Angeles model and now it extends it to a new product: the outdoor speaker Malibu. The device is an easy-to-carry-around, compact Bluetooth speaker. The photovoltaic cell covers the entire top surface: contrary to the headset, which rarely needs to be charged, the cell on the speaker is more of a charging aid and extends by 30 to 45 hours the battery life (in the best lighting condition). We’ve already seen other PV speakers: Urbanista’s trump card is to have a basic line-up of headsets, earbuds, and speakers made with Exeger Powerfoyle premium PV material.

For its offer of small 3D printers, Anker launches an accessory that allows the user to color print with the M5 and M5C models, even with water-soluble materials such as PVA. Installing it is easy: you just need to change the printhead and insert the new module which contains up to 6 color spools. 

A hybrid watch resembles traditional ones in form, but incorporates some smartwatch functions. Among the brands that have insisted on this category, which has never had the visibility of an Apple Watch but certainly has a niche, is Withings, which is presenting its latest flagship, ScanWatch 2, at IFA, which makes health parameter tracking its strong point. In addition to heart rate, the watch can continuously record body temperature, check blood oxygen levels and ECGs, and assess sleep quality, all on a battery that lasts about 30 days.

A trend that started to spread last year and is being confirmed: many are the brands that present photovoltaic solutions and portable batteries with medium and large storage capacity that target creators that need to charge their laptop and cameras on the go and those who dream of a Walden-like life. The winner at this IFA edition is the “escape from the city” imaginary, from LG’s energetically independent smart cottage to the many corners with solar panels, RVs and loungers set up at the fair. Among the brands showcasing this type of device (and this kind of imagery) there are those specializing in research like Etaker, Ugreen, Jackery, but Samsung too has a camping corner in its enormous CityCube stand. Nilox, a brand known for electric bikes and scooters, broadened its offer with a new “green energy” section, that includes 60w solar panels and power stations in three models, from the smallest (PS300), which can charge 5 times a laptop, to the largest (PS1300), which can charge multiple times an electric bike or can keep a 300w freezer working for three hours.