'IFA2020' Ends Without Samsung Amid COVID-19 Impact

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] The 'IFA 2020,' Europe's largest home appliance exhibition, which was significantly scaled down due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), concluded on the 5th (local time).

IFA 2020 is known as one of the world's top three home appliance IT exhibitions alongside the United States' CES and Spain's MWC. However, this year, due to the impact of COVID-19, major IT companies including Samsung Electronics did not participate, resulting in a much smaller event than usual.

Samsung Electronics, which had set up a large exhibition hall in a separate building every year at IFA, did not participate this year due to COVID-19. Instead, on the 2nd, they held a separate online event to showcase strategic products for the European market in the second half of the year, such as projectors, refrigerators, and dryers.

LG Electronics participated by operating a virtual (3D) exhibition hall during the event period, and at the press conference, President (CTO) Park Il-pyeong appeared as a virtual hologram to introduce LG Electronics' key products and vision, including steam home appliances, TVs, and ThinQ Home.

This year's event attracted attention as many Chinese companies participated despite the impact of COVID-19.

According to IFA, among the 1,400 online participating companies, over 90%, about 1,000, were Chinese companies. Additionally, Chinese companies such as Huawei, TCL, Haier, Honor, and Tuya held press conferences directly at the event site rather than online or opened exhibition booths.

At the press conference, Huawei focused on artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and European investments. Chinese TV manufacturer TCL showcased the QLED TV 'Pro X10' emphasizing AI features and IoT solutions connecting home appliances throughout the house.

Chinese home appliance company Haier mentioned the 'Haier Smart Home' project, aiming to be among the top three in the smart home sector by 2023.

American company Qualcomm delivered the opening keynote and unveiled the '2nd generation Snapdragon 8cx 5G compute platform,' a high-performance chip for laptops, as well as affordable 5th generation mobile communication (5G) smartphones. Additionally, German company Miele introduced new AI-based home appliances, including 'Smart Food ID,' an AI technology-based camera that controls the oven cooking process.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.