IFA 2024: the biggest announcements and coolest gadgets

After years of being on the fringes of home automation, LG is now making a big play in the smart home. It has a shiny new multi-protocol hub, is opening its ThinQ platform to work with more smart home devices, and will soon allow other platforms to integrate its appliances into their ecosystems.

ThinQ’s shift from being solely an app to control LG appliances and electronics to becoming a competitor to smart home platforms like Samsung’s SmartThings and Apple Home has been spurred by the standardization of smart home connectivity through initiatives like Thread and Matter and the rapid development of artificial intelligence.

Aukey debuted three new magnetic wireless chargers at IFA in Berlin that come with fans to keep your phone cooler while it’s charging. The company says that means the chargers, called the MagFusion 3-in-1 Pro, the MagFusion GameFrost, and the MagFusion Dash Pro, will charge your phone faster, too.

All three use the Qi2 standard, which means up to 15-watt charging for compatible phones and backward compatibility with normal Qi devices. Aukey claims they can drop charging temperatures as much as 68 degrees Fahrenheit compared to “traditional wireless chargers.”

After nearly a decade of development, Nanoleaf’s smart switch is finally here. You can preorder the $30 Sense Plus Smart Wireless “Anywhere” Switch today, and it should ship in October. But to get to this point, Nanoleaf had to pivot from its adoption of Thread to create a new proprietary protocol called Litewave.

The battery-powered device brings physical control to Nanoleaf’s smart lighting system, allowing you to press a button to turn lights on or off, dim or brighten them, or change light colors. Plus, built-in motion and light sensors let the Sense Plus Switch adjust lighting based on room conditions.

The AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme is the chip inside the Asus ROG Ally X, Asus ROG Ally, and Lenovo Legion Go — and in early 2025, AMD will announce its successor, the Z2 Extreme, for future PC gaming handhelds.

That’s the word from Digital Trends’ Jacob Roach, who heard AMD computing and graphics boss Jack Huynh say it’s targeting a 2025 release on an IFA stage in Berlin; I just confirmed with AMD spokesperson Stacy MacDiarmid that the company plans to announce it in early 2025, though AMD’s declining to say any more about it today.

Imagine an iPhone. But slightly bigger. And slightly faster. Okay, now add another button to the side. Make it gold. You in?

Apple’s next event is on Monday, and the rumors and reports have been swirling for months about what we will and won’t see. New iPhones are a safe bet. New Apple Watches seem to be on the docket, and there’s strong evidence we’ll get some new AirPods, too. There’s even some smoke suggesting a new Mac Mini is in the offing... but that’s probably coming a bit later.

Days after the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) announced it had finalized its Ki wireless power transfer standard, Midea has debuted its first line of cordless kitchen appliances that wirelessly draw all the power they need using the Ki induction technology.

Cooktops that use electromagnetic induction to heat pots and pans have been available in kitchens for years, but Midea is one of the first companies to leverage that technology to wirelessly deliver power to appliances. Its new Celestial Flex Series includes a blender, steamer, and kettle that simply need to be placed on top of an induction plate to run.

Xgimi has announced an upgraded version of its ultrashort throw projector. The new Aura 2 is smaller and lighter than its predecessor while delivering more brightness, but the most welcome improvement is an automatic sliding cover on top that protects the projector’s lens and helps minimize dust buildup.

Xgimi says the Aura 2 produces 2,300 ISO lumens of brightness from its “Dual Light 2.0” light source that uses a combination of lasers and LEDs. That’s up from 1,800 ISO lumens for the original Xgimi Aura, which should improve the Aura 2’s performance when used in rooms where ambient light can’t be completely eliminated. Xgimi claims the Aura 2 can project an image between 90 and 150 inches in size (measured diagonally), depending on how far it’s positioned from a wall.

Reolink’s new Altas PT Ultra is the company’s first battery-powered security camera that is capable of all-day continuous recording. It doesn’t need power access, so it can be installed almost anywhere, and since it captures 4K video to a microSD card instead of the cloud, there are fewer security risks and no subscription fees.

There are already many battery-powered security cameras that streamline installation, but they’re limited by small batteries that can’t record for more than a day before needing a charge. Reolink’s Altas PT Ultra’s solution to that problem is a built-in 20,000mAh battery the company says has enough power to record for 12 hours per day for up to eight days or four days when recording nonstop around the clock.

Yeelight’s array of smart lighting products will now automatically sync with Hisense VIDAA TVs. During the IFA tech conference in Berlin, Yeelight revealed that its app now integrates directly with Hisense TVs, allowing it to capture the audio and video on your screen while relaying matching effects across Yeelight’s devices.

That means you can quickly link up Yeelight’s light strip and its stackable cube-shaped lights to your TV (given that you have a Hisense, of course). That makes it even simpler to set up when compared to some other ambient lighting options from brands like Philips, which requires you to either purchase a Hue Play HDMI sync box to sync your lighting or the Hue Sync TV app, which is only available on some Samsung TVs released in 2022 or later and you have to pay $3 / month or a flat $130 fee just to get it.

Ugreen has a new collection of iPhone and USB accessories for IFA 2024 that really turn up the charm. The Uno line is a collection of GaN and Qi2 chargers, cables, a power bank, and a USB-C hub, each featuring a tiny screen solely for displaying robot-like emoji faces.

The most endearing ones by far are the $60 Uno Charger 100W four-port USB and the $70 15W Qi2 magnetic power bank that sticks to MagSafe phones — each looks like a helpful little bot friend you’ve appointed to live on your desk and help with your charging duties. They’re also the most expressive, with their TFT screens that show up to half a dozen different faces to give some idea of the actual charge levels / rates of your device.

Shortcut Labs has been openly working toward the goal of turning its smart home hubs — the Flic Hub LR and the Flic Hub Mini — into Matter controllers for quite a while, and now the company tells The Verge it has done it. On Friday, Shortcut will release an update that, according to the company, lets its devices easily act as independent hubs for Matter devices without being part of the ecosystems from companies like Apple, Amazon, Google, or Samsung.

It’s a compelling idea: a way to build out a smart home without turning to one of the big tech companies and the privacy concerns and attempts at lock-in that come with that. Part of the promise of the Matter standard is that it gives users freedom of choice, but we’ve still mostly had to use at least one of those big ecosystems. Flic’s Matter controller update hints at a fuller version of that promise.

Air purifiers are great and all, but they only really do one thing, and they usually don’t look elegant doing it. SwitchBot is trying to change this by making an air purifier that also serves as a table, a wireless charger, and a light source.

The device, aptly named the SwitchBot Air Purifier Table, costs $269.99 and puts a small platform atop the air purifier. You can place a Qi-compatible phone on the platform to charge it wirelessly or simply use it to set down your cup of coffee. Beneath the platform is a light that looks like it could come in handy for subtle nighttime illumination. You can choose from 10 different colors, with options for soft, moderate, and bright lighting; the light will also change color by itself — from green to blue to red — depending on air quality.

Windows laptops are getting exciting again. Over the past few years, Apple has dominated the laptop performance and battery life conversation, thanks to its transition to its own silicon. Now, Qualcomm has shaken up the Windows laptop market with its new Snapdragon X chips, even challenging Apple’s power efficiency in its bid to make Windows on Arm successful. With laptop makers already eyeing up AMD chips in larger numbers, it really looked like Intel would be the loser in a laptop chip war, but this week, it began striking back with its Lunar Lake chips and calling out Qualcomm along the way.

At the IFA trade show in Germany, it was clear that a fierce battle is emerging between Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm over the future of Windows laptops. On one side, you have Intel and AMD trying to catch Qualcomm on power efficiency and battery life, and on the other, you have Qualcomm trying to catch x86 on app compatibility and push Windows on Arm laptop price points even lower. 

Nanoleaf is giving its popular smart lighting panels a major refresh. The Nanoleaf Blocks (starting at $199.99) feature edge-to-edge lighting that the company says eliminates hot spots and dark corners, bringing a smoother, more even look. The new Blocks can also be customized with pegboards, shelves, and textured light panels to bring more function to your wall art. They’re available for preorder now and ship in October.

The company announced the new panels during its Nanoleaf Live event on YouTube and will show them off at the IFA tech show in Berlin this week. Nanoleaf is also adding two new features to its desktop app that work with the Blocks, as well as its entire line of smart lights, to offer more immersive lighting experiences.