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From motorised suitcases to dog massagers: the wackiest gadgets at this year’s IFA
11.9.2025
Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson
You’ll find everything at IFA, but mainly stuff you don’t need. Brace yourself for the five most absurd discoveries I made at the largest trade fair for consumer electronics and home appliances.
The IFA tech fair in Berlin is big. Incredibly big. It’s near impossible to check out all the products on display and bag all the freebies. That’s why most people narrow their visit down to the stands from big names including Siemens, Bosch and Samsung. What the crowds are missing out on though are the wacky gems tucked away between the huge showrooms and presentation areas. That’s where you find the stands you’d usually just walk past.
Sure, these manufacturers might not always be showcasing earth-shattering innovations, but they do have gadgets they want the world to see. These are my top five most absurd discoveries at IFA 2025.
1. A screen for your phone case
You’re probably thinking it’s impossible to increase your screen time, right? Well, you’re wrong. Italian company Coverride is one of several manufacturers presenting mobile phone cases with an integrated screen. These screens will play image or video content around the clock. As you may have guessed, the screen eats away at your battery. This means, you have to recharge it after eight hours of use.
Not exactly what the world’s been waiting for.
A quick search on Galaxus reveals the idea isn’t new. We also sell these absurd protective covers. The ones we have work in a similar way, only that they have an e-ink screen.
Do me a favour and don’t buy this item.
2. Electric suitcase
Do you also envy all those kids who get to zip around airports sitting on their wheelie suitcases? Well, you can now get something similar for adults.
Langfang feng fu Technology’s range includes a humanoid robot, a smoothie machine and a robot dog. As if that weren’t enough, they also have suitcases you can cruise around on for up to 14 kilometres at a speed of ten kilometres per hour on a fully charged battery.
3. Massager for tense pets
German company Beurer was specialised in electric blankets and heating pads at the start of the 20th century. These days, the manufacturer sells everything from nail care gizmos and insect bite healers to blood pressure monitors. So pretty much everything with a long name and vaguely associated with health.
What’s more, they’ve expanded their range to include people’s best friends – pets. At the fair, the manufacturer was showcasing electric mats and beds to keep dogs and cats warm. Not to mention Buddy, a massager designed to give pets a relaxing rub with its four rotating silicone heads. The device has two speed settings and can manage a kneading session of just over 2.5 hours at a time.
Are pets so stressed these days?
4. Colourful tech gadgets for kids
An entire area of the trade fair was dedicated to children’s gadgets. Think colourful, chunky devices that look like toys and are designed to introduce your little ones to technology in a playful way. Cameras, headphones, smartwatches, you name it. All of them on show were reduced to the simplest functions so that their target group, three-year-olds, can use them.
Apart from the quality of these products being questionable, picturing toddlers with cameras dangling from their necks, bone-sound headphones stuck to their temples and mini mics in their hands is somewhat disconcerting. At least to me.
So you’ll be getting no product suggestions from me. If you insist on equipping your wee one with a camera, by all means, put the research in yourself.
5. Private propeller flights
Just over a hundred years ago, people imagined the year 2000 would see police officers flying through cities and business people being picked up by flying cabs. None of this happened. Until now. Manufacturer CoolFly (Zhejiang) Aircraft Technology wants to change that.
The aircraft, which will set you back around 70,000 dollars, is designed to hover and lift you up to about five metres above ground with its propeller drive. It’s equipped with a parachute and the passenger needs to wear a suit fitted with an airbag. At a speed of 120 kilometres per hour, it’s supposed to carry up to 110 kilogrammes over a distance of 30 kilometres.
Only a prototype and a video of the device in action were on display at the exhibition. It remains to be seen if this kind of aircraft will make its way into the everyday lives of people. If it does, it’s above my budget.
Header image: Stefanie Lechthaler
Painting the walls just before handing over the flat? Making your own kimchi? Soldering a broken raclette oven? There's nothing you can't do yourself. Well, perhaps sometimes, but I'll definitely give it a try.
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