IFA Berlin: Where consumer tech meets innovation

Messe Berlin Managing Director Christian Göke said in his opening speech that TV sets would not take center stage at the show this year, indicating that smartphones would get all the attention as 5G networks are rolled out globally. He said the rollout would most likely make decisive strides in 2020.

Smartphones have become an integral part of our digital lives, but there's still some demand for bigger devices such as TV sets. According to Amazon's Marc Whitten, remote control units will be rendered superfluous by integrating voice control. Grundig is showing a TV set with an integrated Alexa voice assistant.

Speaking of voice assistants — they're good for many things. They're supposed to listen to what we say and then execute our commands like switching on a microwave oven or the radio so that we don't wear off our fingers — what a big step for mankind! In the picture, a staff member displays a Libratone 'Zipp2' wireless speaker at the IFA 2019 tech fair.

Miele, a long-established German home appliances company, is a regular at the IFA show. The picture above shows a staff member presenting a new vacuum cleaner model. IFA features a seemingly endless array of so-called white goods, with many of them now capable of doing things one could only dream of a decade or two ago.

What's the guy doing with his VR glasses and a vacuum cleaner, many may ask. The answer is that he is using the glasses to make the robotic cleaner go to the corners he wants it to go to. This is supposed to be the future of vacuum cleaning, but there is still some time before it completely takes over the traditional way of cleaning.

For market players active in consumer electronics and the home appliances industry, IFA has turned into an annual event not to be missed. The show also features IFA NEXT — a stage for innovation where startups, research labs, universities and individual companies introduce their state-of-the-art products and solutions.