Every year, Chinese corporations achieving remarkable growth in the home appliance and IT sectors are creating a buzz at Europe's largest home appliance exhibition, IFA 2025, which opened on the 5th in Berlin, Germany (local time), by unveiling a wider variety of new technologies. This year, they have gone beyond merely copying the exhibition trends of existing Korean corporations, showcasing many new technologies that are rarely seen from Samsung and LG, thereby attracting the attention of visitors.
The most notable product at TCL's exhibition was the child care robot AiME. AiME is a companion robot equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) features that primarily focuses on caregiving by engaging in real-time conversations with children, telling stories or playing music and videos when needed. It monitors children all day and can send necessary messages to parents through their mobile phones, depending on the situation.
It also functions as a pet robot specialized in caregiving by incorporating customized AI features suited to the child's conversational level. A TCL official noted, "Unlike conversing with adults, there is a unique approach for children. In the case of AiME, it reflects the child's emotions and conversational shortcomings, incorporating the AI dialogue function that can become most emotionally familiar."
TCL's theme at this year's IFA is also more specific compared to previous years and shows a focus on localization in Europe. They unveiled systems such as the energy-efficient 'TCL Air' air conditioning system, which significantly improves energy efficiency in response to rising energy expenses faced by the European market, as well as TCL Solar, which can reduce electricity costs using solar power.
One of the strong players in the Chinese home appliance industry, Hisense, set up a large booth dedicated to various exhibition concepts, including TVs, home appliances, and AI home products. Notably, this year, they concentrated on displaying TV products, possibly in response to the wavering positions of Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics in the premium TV market. Hisense showcased a 163-inch micro LED TV and a 116-inch RGB mini LED TV prominently in their exhibition space, signaling their intention to expand their presence in the premium TV market.
Hisense's exhibition this year features a large number of products tailored for the European market, which is known for its built-in appliances. Similar to LG Electronics, which previously promoted 'Fit and Max,' Hisense displayed built-in refrigerators and washing machines under the term 'Fit In.' They also presented high-end kitchen appliances under the theme 'Kitchen Fit.' A Samsung representative said, "The finishes and quality of the products do not seem to fall significantly behind brands like Miele and Bosch," adding, "The design and planning also stand out as they conducted thorough demand surveys on European living environments."
Chinese corporation LL Vision also attracted visitors' interest at IFA 2025 by showcasing augmented reality (AR) glasses. The 'Leion Hey2' that LL Vision unveiled is capable of recognizing voice and text in over 100 languages based on AI, projecting translated text onto the lenses in real time or conveying voices to the user. Attendees who tested the product on-site reported that the accuracy of voice recognition has improved significantly compared to existing smart glasses.
LL Vision explained that they have overcome many of the drawbacks that previously made commercialization difficult, such as the heavy design and short battery life. A representative from LL Vision stated, "The ultimate goal of smart glasses is continuous usage for over 6 hours and a standby time of up to one week, but no corporation has achieved this," adding, "The Hey2 product has extended continuous usage to 8 hours and total usage time to 96 hours, successfully reducing weight to a level comparable to ordinary glasses.