IFA 2018: Smart in Every Respect

This year’s IFA is booked up and boasts two fully occupied exhibition areas: the entire Berlin Exhibition Grounds as well as IFA Global Markets at STATION Berlin on Gleisdreieck are full up for 2018.

Boasting a wealth of innovative, smart new products, the world’s leading brands are once again showcasing their latest technology highlights: intelligent and interconnected home appliances, artificial intelligence and TVs featuring an even better picture quality are just some of the big trends at IFA 2018. This year, in its role as an innovative force for growth in the consumer electronics and home appliance markets IFA will continue to expand and build on its standing as an international platform and meeting place.

“IFA’s success is impressive proof of the show’s long-term ability to make forward-looking decisions and target specific audiences. Home appliance and consumer electronics products and markets are converging all the time. IFA was unique in recognizing this trend at an early stage. The resultant success shows it has become the world’s leading platform for both markets. IFA does not follow short-term trends. Its strength lies instead in a clearly defined role, in which it fully satisfies the demands of exhibitors, retailers, trade visitors, the media and the public,“ said Hans-Joachim Kamp, chairman of the board of gfu Consumer & Home Electronics, the organizers of IFA.

This year IFA NEXT, the innovation hub at IFA, is taking place for the second time and has almost doubled its floor space in Hall 26. It also features a second stage for presenting products, technology and innovations. In short, in 2018 IFA NEXT boasts an even wider range of topics and program of events, and with 125 startups from 21 countries will present more innovations than ever before. Thus, at IFA 2018 startups, entrepreneurs and designers will have even more space for their creative and forward-looking ideas.

As well as the Berlin Exhibition Grounds, which in 2018 are exclusively reserved for product brands, IFA is again occupying 20,000 square meters of additional exhibition space at STATION Berlin, near Potsdamer Platz. From 2 to 5 September at the marketplace that is IFA Global Markets, which is open exclusively to trade visitors, suppliers, component manufacturers and OEMs/ODMs will be meeting customers and business partners from the consumer and home electronics markets.

Visitors to this year’s IFA will be able to admire screens with a resolution of 8k, flexible displays that can be rolled up like a window blind, large video walls that use a combination of red, green and blue luminous diodes to produce each spot of color, and new HDR technology. The ongoing development of voice commands is another exciting area. Consequently, in the fields of consumer electronics and home appliances, the two dominant trends of voice control and artificial intelligence (AI) in particular will have a far-reaching influence on IFA 2018.