The latest developments at IFA 2024, Europe's premier technology trade show, feature numerous AI-driven gadgets and concept devices poised to reshape the consumer electronics landscape.
Held from September 1 to September 5, 2024, the event has attracted over 250,000 visitors and featured more than 2,000 exhibitors from around the globe.
Among the standouts, LG showed off an AI-driven fridge that can suggest recipes based on the contents inside and monitor food freshness in real time.
Samsung showcased an AI-driven washing machine that optimizes every single cycle using machine learning to save water and energy.
Sony came with an AI-driven camera that automatically adjusts settings to click that perfect shot, while Bosch announced an AI-powered home security system able to differentiate between human and animal movements to reduce annoyingly false alarms, effect.
This year Lenovo also announced its first Windows-powered gaming handheld Legion Go and Sylvox with its waterproof TV that could float on water.
Of all the concept devices making headlines, Samsung's foldable AI smartphone had to take center stage. Changing effortlessly from a phone into a tablet and back into a portable game console, this versatile device does it all. The concept is miles away from what personal tech is going to continue to be in the future, dynamic, adaptive devices that change shape with a user's needs.
European Tech Show IFA 2024 is more than individual product launches, it speaks to the greater trends driving the technology world. According to Gartner analysts, more than 75% of consumer tech will involve some form of AI by 2026, a prediction already amplified by the launches at IFA.
It also underlined how growing competition within the leadership race on AI development between tech giants like Apple and Google shapes the future into something much more complex and innovative than previously stated.
The appetite for AI and concept devices might only increase by the time IFA 2024 wraps up. The AI-driven future that these events hint at is almost a present reality that is going to shape how we live, work, and deal with technology.
CCS Insight consumer tech industry analyst Kane McKenna said: "IFA offers the perfect opportunity to get hands-on with a huge array of AI products and services, many of which most people simply wouldn't know existed otherwise. I'm looking forward to catching a glimpse of what the next wave brings in terms of improved functionality or more accessible price points."
But ahead of IFA 2024 kicking off, it's now AI PCs that are taking center stage. Both Intel and Qualcomm are fronting the latest AI-driven processors-which could mean that PCs enter a new era. Intel will have its upcoming Lunar Lake processor, promising to power the next generation of AI PCs. Meanwhile, Qualcomm is ready to launch its Copilot Plus AI PCs, which should hopefully make the AI capabilities far more mainstream and affordable.
"AI PCs are still so new that there's a lot of headway to be made around not just processing power, but bringing prices to the masses and developing new use cases," said Bryan Ma, VP of Devices Research at International Data Corporation.