IFA 2019 Final Day: Everything we saw at Europe's largest tech show
We're headed home from Berlin. Here's everything that mattered from IFA 2019.
Rich Brown Former Senior Editorial Director - Home and Wellness
Rich was the editorial lead for CNET's Home and Wellness sections, based in Louisville, Kentucky. Before moving to Louisville in 2013, Rich ran CNET's desktop computer review section for 10 years in New York City. He has worked as a tech journalist since 1994, covering everything from 3D printing to Z-Wave smart locks.
Expertise Smart home, Windows PCs, cooking (sometimes), woodworking tools (getting there...)
4 min read
LG's new G8X dual-screen phone.
We're done combing the show floor at the sprawling Messe convention center here at IFA , the annual consumer technology showcase held in Berlin. It's been a more eventful year than usual, with the unveiling of the revamped Galaxy Fold from Samsung, the first OLED TV with Amazon Alexa built-in and an update to our favorite AirPod competitors, the Jabra Elite 75t wireless ear buds.
We still have a story or two to file, and we've made our selections for the best new products of IFA 2019, but now we're heading home. Below you'll find our list of everything we uncovered during the last week in Berlin.
Here's the most important news to come out of IFA 2019.
Appliances
- LG has a new AI for its large appliances than can tell you if you're using your refrigerator wrong
- Samsung's AirDresser is a clothes steaming closet that saves you trips to the dry cleaner
- Bosch introduced a new line of Silence Edition large appliances that run extra quietly
- Bosch also has new fridges that let you use a custom photo as their external finish
- This new Electrolux fridge will stop your beer from exploding
- Samsung's beautiful Bespoke refrigerators come in customizable door and color configurations
Laptops
- Laptops at IFA 2019 are all about speed
- Lenovo introduced a new line of Chromebooks
- Intel showcased a bunch of Project Athena laptops, which promise up to 9 hours of battery life
- Razer unveiled a new white Blade Stealth gaming laptop with Intel's new Ice Lake CPU
- Asus has a new ROG gaming laptop, equipped with a 300Hz display meant for esports
- Asus also launched the ProArt StudioBook One laptop, which boasts desktop performance for creatives
- Acer's Concept D laptops are built for creators thanks to Nvidia Quadro RTX graphics
- Acer's Predator Triton 500 gaming laptop joins the 300Hz display club
- Lenovo's Yoga C940 two-in- laptop is almost like a phone
Phones
- Galaxy Fold's hard lesson: Flimsy design will kill a foldable phone
- Revamped Galaxy Fold fixes past mistakes: What's new
- Samsung has a new affordable 5G phone, the Galaxy A90 5G
- Galaxy Fold will arrive in Korea on Friday
- Sony tries to battle big phone fatigue with compact (but still kind of big) Xperia 5
- TCL jumps into phones with the foldable Plex that has three rear cameras
- Nokia's next-gen phone could be your affordable route to next-gen speeds
- LG's G8X ThinQ phone is a high-end phone with two screens
- The Motorola One Zoom has four cameras on the back
- Huawei's foldable Mate X phone could go on sale next month
- Qualcomm will enable more affordable 5G phones with a less expensive chip
- Huawei gets around a U.S. ban with a phone with a color tweak to the P30 Pro
Watch this: Every way Samsung improved the Galaxy Fold
Headphones and speakers
- Sennheiser's new Momentum 3 wireless headphones sound great
- Another noise-canceling headphone from Sennheiser, the PXC 550-II
- Sonos $400 Move is the first Sonos speaker designed to work indoor and out
- JBL joins the sound bar fight with three entries of its own
- Jabra Elite 75t, our favorite AirPods competitor gets an upgrade
- Huawei's FreeBuds 3 are the latest AirPods rival you need to know about
Smart home
- Are smart locks safer in Europe?
- Philips new Hue bulbs focus on vintage looks and Bluetooth for hub-free connectivity
- JBL Link Music and Link Portable are the latest Google Home alternatives
- Lenovo's new Smart Display 7 looks a lot like the Google Nest Hub, and that's OK
- Google's new Ambient Mode lets you turn a Lenovo tablet into a smart display
- If you leave your stove on, the Safera Sense will yell at you
- Netgear's Orbi mesh routers get a new Wi-Fi 6 edition for $700
- This tiny smart switch goes inside your walls
- Netatmo adds Alexa support and a new security system
Everything else
- Asus's new ProArt display tries to outdo the Apple Cinema Display XDR
- Acer's Thronos gaming chair is back, and it wants to help you relax
- The new Asus VivoWatch has ECG and can measure your blood pressure
- Amazon introduces the first OLED TV with Alexa built-in and a new Fire TV Cube
- Garmin has a new high-end smart watch called Venu, and Legacy Heroes watch tie-in with Marvel
- Sony releases 40th anniversary Walkman
- Your phone could power a personal movie theater you wear on your face
- Huami's Amazfit smart watches give you two weeks of battery life
- IFA shows CES how to exhibit sex tech like adults
We also spent some time looking for stories that aren't entirely product-related, but still demanded attention during our time in Berlin.
- We tried some beer made from Berlin's recycled waste water (no shit)
- We also sent someone to report on a well known techno spa
- We got an exclusive peek into former HTC CEO Peter Chou's new social VR headset
- We looked into the rapid expansion of electric scooters in cities across Europe
We'll be adding stories to this page throughout the show, so be sure to check back often for all of the latest news from IFA 2019.