Best of IFA 2026: the products that made me pause and explore

TDM Neo

TDM is a fresh brand and their very first product is the TDM Neo. At first look — a set of on-ear headphones. But twist the band and slap the cups together, and it becomes a Bluetooth speaker.



Their sound quality in both formats is definitely above average. For the headphone experience, you have a strong bass and very energetic presence. What I particularly enjoyed in wireless speaker mode is that it’s actually stereo — most Bluetooth speakers in this caliber are typically mono, which robs many songs from their intricacies and dual instrument harmonies.

The TDM Neo is bit pricey, north of $250, but you get an above-average set of cans, an above-average Bluetooth speaker, and the convenience of them being a 2-in-1 package.

Honor Robot Phone

It turns out that Honor’s Robot Phone, a device that seemed like a crazy concept until a few weeks ago, is absolutely real. Made of 100% brilliant engineering and a bunch of hardware that can’t be seen in any other phone out there.

The best part? I actually got to use it at a behind-the-scenes meet-and-greet event. You know what? The hype is real!

The Robot Phone is 90% about the camera and content creation experience. The main, 200 MP camera is mounted on a miniature, motorized gimbal that unfolds and supports all the features you’d expect from a real gimbal – down to the various modes like pan, tilt, FPV, etc. Down to joystick control, even!



There’s so much functionality built into the Robot Phone’s gimbal camera system, that it made me genuinely hyped about the concept of a phone with a built-in gimbal system. It unlocks a ton of options for the content creator, allowing you to take shots or record video in ways that weren’t possible before.

RayNeo GT Max AR and RayNeo iO

RayNeo GT Max AR are a brand new set of glasses from RayNeo. They are special because they enhanced the size of the virtual display that’s in front of your eyes — it’s a 267-inch equivalent, and offers a 59-degree FOV.

I tried gaming through them (hooked to a Steam Deck) and yes, it’s big and immersive. Though it doesn’t block your peripheral vision, so you can’t really tune out the world and dive into Red Dead Redemption 2 while at a huge tech convention.



The RayNeo iO are a much lighter build with a monochrome display. With a few apps inside — to record your conversations, live translate, ask your AI of choice something, or follow your calendar agenda. There’s also a prompter mode for presenters or content creators.

Their whole point is to be thin and easy to wear, their display is invisible for anyone looking at you. And the whole green monochrome look makes you feel like RoboCop.

Xreal Aura: Android XR about to make a splash

The Xreal Aura goes beyond the feature set of standard XR glasses like the Xreal 1S or RayNeo GT Max, by integrating the brand new Android XR platform.

Android XR is basically Android, adapted for smart glasses. Think of it like Google’s VisionOS alternative.

While it’s still early days for Android XR, the platform, running on the Xreal Aura, is already very impressive. With mostly accurate hand gesture tracking, you can open all the standard Android apps like Chrome, Maps, YouTube, as well as pretty much everything from the Play Store, move them around, resize them and generally enjoy full-on spatial computing.



All of that, in the familiar XR glasses form-factor, at a fraction of the price of the Vision Pro. I still don’t know how much Xreal Aura is going to cost, but they’ve already announced the price point is below $1500. That’s still quite expensive, but obviously way more approachable than the $3500 Apple is asking for the Vision Pro.

The Xreal Aura has once again restored my optimism for spatial computing, and I can’t wait to spend some quality time with it.

Moto Watch Ultra

Motorola was technically not at IFA, but we got to see some cool stuff behind closed doors. Let’s call it IFA-adjacent.

The Moto Watch Ultra is certainly a highlight for me, and I can’t wait to explore it further. What did I like so much? The design and the available watch faces.

It does run on WearOS 6.0, which I am not a huge fan of, but comes with insights by Polar, which may just put it in a pretty good place when it comes to attracting the fitness and wellness folk. Stay tuned for a review, I guess!

TCL P80 Ultra and Tab A1 with Nxtpaper

TCL P80 Ultra is a phone using TCL’s Nxtpaper technology. They make their screens with a very fine matte grain, so they feel more like paper, but don’t have the light distortion artifacts of similar screen protectors.



Additionally, the software has three modes for the screen — regular colors, a filtered mode that makes everything look like it’s been drawn on paper (and I really liked it), and a full-blown custom e-ink like mode, which limits the phone’s use to a few apps.



The Tab A1 with Nxtpaper basically mirrors this featureset in a tablet format… with a stylus!

Dreame Leaptic Cube

While wandering the halls of IFA and wondering whether action cams are dead or not, I stumbled upon the Dreame Leaptic Cube. It’s a modular action camera and yes, it’s definitely not the first one.

Two things I loved about it — the quick-release system with magnetic alignment, which makes it super easy to swap between the modules. There’s a tripod, there are different harnesses for it, an extra battery, or a viewfinder. That viewfinder can also act as a remote and stays connected to the action cam at up to 30 meters.



Secondly, it has a large 1/1.3-inch 50MP sensor and can shoot at up to 8K at 30 FPS.

Chipolo trackers

There are plenty of smart trackers on the market now, especially since Apple and Google both opened their Find networks for accessory makers.

Yet Chipolo, one of the first players in the business, still hang on and still had enough bling to attract me to their booth.

Their selection of trackers — loop tags, cards, and wallets, are made with recycled plastic which certainly didn’t look or feel recycled to me.



You can also use a dedicated button on each one of their trackers to reverse-search for your phone, if it happens to be under a couch pillow or something. It overrides all your phone’s settings and screams a notification ping at full volume. Yes, even if it’s an iPhone.

iKKO MindOne

Now that foldable phones are exploring the old and forgotten wide form factor (like 16:10), some manufacturers are thinking “What if we make a passport-shaped phone that’s not foldable at all?”.

The iKKO MindOne stood out to me for its shape, but it made me do a double take with its features and accessories.

OK, so first things first — yes, it’s a short, portable phone that may not be your best choice for YouTube binging, but definitely has a fresh look and pocketable format.

Secondly, it only has one camera with a Sony sensor. Want to take a selfie? Flip it up and it becomes front-facing.



Third, they also came up with accessories to make use of that unique screen shape. You can either attach it to a keyboard that kind of reminds me of old BlackBerry. Or a gamepad. Full transparency, though, I wasn’t a fan of the keyboard’s feel and response.



Lastly, it comes with a bult-in V-SIM and free internet connectivity for its AI features. Meaning, you don’t need to worry about an eSIM or plan when traveling. Just open the MindOne’s AI OS menu and pre-pay for a data plan for your destination. The Virtual SIM inside acts as an actual de-facto SIM for the network operators in your destination.

And its AI features — note summary and live translate — use their own cloud connection, which is free to you. Even if you don’t have a plan right now, even if you don’t have access to Wi-Fi.

Ulefone RugOne Xsnap 7 Pro

A pretty fun concept by Ulefone that actually turned into a full-blown product. The RugOne Xsnap 7 Pro launched at IFA 2026. It’s a smartphone with an embedded action camera… which you can detach.

Yeah, kind of a modular concept again, but this time it’s a whole phone. The action camera can work fully autonomously, or you can use your phone as a remote and viewfinder.

The RugOne Xsnap 7 Pro itself is on the upper range of Ulefone phones — a 6.67" 1.5K 120Hz AMOLED display, a massive 9000mAh battery, a 50MP OIS AI main sensor, and a 64MP night vision lens.

Daily Objects

It’s IFA, so there are tons and tons of accessories to gawk at. But Daily Objects stood out.

Each of their accessories has some creative, out-of-the-box thinking behind it. Whether it’s a power extension cord with USB-C plugs on the side, a tech organizer that has a wireless charging pad for your phone, or fun light bulbs that you can dim simply by spinning them.

What made its way to this Best of pick is their Node wireless charging ecosystem.



So, a Node is a pad with either 2 or 3 magnetic slots (user choice). And, in these slots, you can fit a Qi wireless charging disk, a portable lamp, an Apple Watch charging stand, or phone charging stand.



Furthermore, the lamp and the phone charging stand have internal batteries. So, let’s say I have my iPhone on said stand, on the Node pad. If I need to move but take the iPhone with me, I just grab the Stand, pull it off the pad, and carry it with me. It will continue charging the iPhone as I go from room to room without interruption.



Just remember to plop it back in its magnetic seat when you are done!

Gamesir Pocket Taco

Gamesir is a well-known game controller brand. They introduced a pretty cute mobile accessory this year — the Taco.

It attaches to the USB-C on the bottom of your phone and wraps around like 1/3 of the bottom half of your screen. There, it provides a classic D-pad and 4 buttons like the pocket arcade games of the past.



So yes, it’s not usable for all games on the Play Store, but there are a number of emulators and relaunched classics, which will run in portrait format and benefit from Gamesir’s quality buttons and controls.

Pitaka’s new line of colors

Pitaka has been making aramid weave cases for more than a decade now. And when other case makers decided to throw their hat in that particular ring, Pitaka said “Oh yeah? Well, we can weave color, too!”.

So yeah, as far as I know, making aramid strands behave while weaving them together into coherent patterns and pictures is no easy task. And this year, Pitaka is preparing for the iPhone 18 Pro launch with a dense collection of new colors to pick from.



The launch event was what I would call surreal. But looking at all the options in front of me and wondering “Which one do I even pick?” is what left a lasting impression.

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