The city of Berlin welcomes the great and the good from the tech industry every year for Europe’s biggest consumer tech event. And Tom’s Guide has been on the ground at IFA 2025 all week to sniff out — and get hands-on with — the very latest new products.
IFA 2025 has set the stage for the future of consumer tech — giving companies the chance to showcase their ideas in phones, computing, home tech, fitness and more.
It’s our chance to give you an early look at what you should be buying over the next 12 months to enrich your lives, and the likes of Tecno, Lenovo and Samsung have truly hit it out of the park.
But now, after thousands of steps and getting lost in Berlin testing gadgets, it’s time for the shortlist — our award winners. Read on to see our editors’ favorites.
Best of show: Tecno Slim
Back at MWC 2025, Tecno teased the thinnest phone in the world. The final product didn’t quite snag the crown from Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge, but the Spark Slim still lands as the slimmest curved smartphone you can actually buy right now. At just 5.92mm for the 4G model (5.95mm for the 5G Pova Slim), it’s nearly as razor-thin as Samsung’s flagship while costing a fraction.
Both models pack a punchy 144Hz curved AMOLED display with 4,500 nits of brightness, a 50MP camera, and a 5,160mAh battery with 45W fast charging and 10W reverse charging. Performance won’t blow you away, but the Helio G200 (4G) and Dimensity 6400 (5G) chipsets will still be plenty for more casual users.
But my favorite trick is on the back: a set of mood-light LED circles around the cameras and a bar that looks like a little glowing face. It’s playful, but also functional for delivering notification animations and can even be a fill light for darker scenes.
For an expected starting price of $200 when it launches later in September, the Spark Slim proves you don’t need to spend big to get a phone that turns heads for both design and personality — Paul Antill
Best laptop: Acer Swift Air 16
Thin and light seems to be the name of the game at IFA, and Acer just debuted a laptop that practically defies physics. The Swift Air 16 is a 16-inch laptop that’s actually lighter than a 13-inch MacBook Air — that’s bonkers!
And not only that, but the company proved you don’t have to compromise specs to get it. Up top, you’ve got a gorgeous 2800 x 1800-pixel OLED display running at a smooth 120Hz. Open it up and you’ll find the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 CPU, alongside 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD, there’s a decent amount of ports and good connectivity with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.4.
But of course, that real show piece is those dimensions and weight. It almost feels like the shell of a computer without the actual computer in it at just 2.4 pounds, and at 0.65-inches thin, this becomes a big screen experience that is so easy to take with you on-the-go. — Jason England
Best gaming hardware: Lenovo Legion Go 2
The Lenovo Legion Go 2 could potentially be the Windows 11 handheld to beat. This sequel to the Legion Go features an OLED panel, a more ergonomic design, and the AMD Ryzen Z2 chip. Those features, along with its enormous 8.8-inch display and detachable controllers, give it an edge over the competition.
I got to check out the Legion Go 2 at an IFA event held in NYC and back at CES and liked what I saw. It appears very similar to its predecessor, but I noticed the difference right away when I held it. The softer and more rounded controller edges make it much easier to hold. I’m also a fan of the smooth Hall effect joysticks and the larger D-pad. And as before, you can use the kickstand on the back to prop up the Legion Go 2 on a desk if your arms get tired.
Like the Asus ROG Xbox Ally and MSI Claw A8, Lenovo’s handheld can be configured with an AMD Ryzen Z2 or AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip. If leaked Geekbench 6 benchmarks are accurate, this new machine will offer nearly 30% better performance than its Z1 Extreme-powered predecessor. Combine that with AI features like upscaling and frame-generation, and we could see some seriously awesome performance. — Tony Polanco
Best tablet: Samsung Galaxy Tab 11
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 is a significant step forward for Android tablets — earning it the bragging rights of being the best tablet I got my hands-on at the show! And the secret sauce here is not about any individual thing, but rather sum of all its parts paired with software.
First, you have a choice between 11- and 14.6-inch models, and that bigger sibling is jaw dropping. The Dynamic AMOLED 2X is absolutely gorgeous. Pair that with a new 3nm process chipset — the Dimensity 9400 Plus with up to 16GB RAM, and you’ll struggle to slow this 1.52-pound machine down.
Bringing it altogether is the huge changes to the Android UI to really bring out its productivity potential alongside DeX mode giving you a laptop-esque system wherever you are. — Jason England
Best mini PC: Geekom A9 Mega
Geekom has created a monster that could topple the likes of the Mac mini as the best mini PC you can buy. Why? Well, it comes down to three things: raw power, design and versatility.
Starting with the first, it’s quite simply the most powerful mini PC on Earth — sporting the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor and 128GB of RAM. If you’ve read our review of the Framework Desktop or the Asus ROG Flow Z13, you’ll know this chip blindsided us with just what it is capable of. AMD would really like to tell you its impressively beefy GPU is capable of some huge AI tasks, which it absolutely is.
To a gamer like me, though, I’m more mind-blown by the fact it can achieve 4K gaming at impressive frame rates. Graphics-wise, you’re looking at something akin to an RTX 50-series GPU in an integrated form. All that performance in a smaller package and lower power consumption.
And all of this comes in an impressively premium aluminum shell that is going to look great on any desk, and packed with all the ports you could ever need including USB4. This is a beast of a system, and you can pre-order one on Kickstarter for $1,899. No word yet on what the full MSRP will be when it launches, but color me excited from my time testing the A9 Mega! — Jason England
Best fitness tech: Acemate tennis robot
Fitness tech has been a huge talking point here in Berlin, but out of the ocean of wearables and smart exercise machines, the Acemate tennis robot truly stands out. The price is steep at $2,499 ($1,599 pre-order discount if you get one now), but for what you get, it’s essentially a robot that uses AI to either be an awesome tennis coach or a highly-skilled opponent.
In the base, there are two 4K binocular cameras connected to an AI chip (NPU) that track where the ball is going on the court, and using the omnidirectional wheels, the Acemate can zoom around and catch any ball coming its way in that net on the top. It’s seriously impressive how lightning quick it can respond to a hit, whether it’s an accurate one or if you biff it like me.
After your session, you can then head over to the app on your phone and get your performance measured. You can see where all your hits landed, a % rating on how many were in, and even get tailored advice on how to improve. For those looking to up their game, this is legitimately helpful. — Jason England
Best home innovation: Dreame Bionic QuadTrack Stair Climbing System
The Dreame Bionic QuadTrack Stair Climbing System may have a name of the future, but this stair-climbing robot vacuum is the here and the now. Thanks to its four tank-like track “legs”, the Bionic QuadTrack Stair Climbing System can climb stairs up to 9.8 inches high at a speed of 0.2m/s.
The Bionic QuadTrack Stair Climbing System isn’t a robot vacuum itself, it’s a shell. Simply attach the chassis to any Dreame robot vacuum to transform it into a device that sees a staircase and starts laughing. Whereas before robot vacuums simply drove themselves into stairs and asked for help, now robot vacuums will be able to tackle these vertical obstacles themselves.
Unfortunately, the Dreame Bionic QuadTrack Stair Climbing System has no release date as of yet, and it’s not backwards compatible with Dreame’s existing robot vacuums, so you’ll need to wait to get your hands on the product. But I’m waiting with bated breath. — Erin Bashford
Best smartphone: Samsung Galaxy S25 FE
We all know the name of the game for the FE lineage of Samsung phones — give us enough of the flagship experience in a mid-range slab. It’s a combo breaker of value and performance that has served the company well, and the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE is no different!
For $649, you’re getting an impressively well-specced phone with Samsung’s own Exynos chip (yes, Snapdragon is quicker, but this is more than enough) alongside a gorgeous AMOLED display, a larger battery, and all of Samsung’s AI and software smarts in One UI 8.
Put simply, it’s a strong mid-range revamp that brings the key things we love about the original S25 to a lower price. — Jason England
Best smart home tech: Evovacs Deebot X11 Omnicyclone
The Ecovacs Deebot X11 robot vacuum delivers features that actually get the job done. With its self-cleaning, self-emptying base and clever new tricks, it delivers one of the most hands-off floor cleaning experiences.
Its standout feature is the TruePass Adaptive 4WD system, which allows it to climb thresholds up to 4 centimeters, obstacles that stop most other bots. Combine that with the upgraded roller mop that actually scrubs grease and dried stains, lifts 10 millimeters over carpets, and extends 15 millimeters into walls and corners, and it happily tackles the trickiest messes.
With 19,500Pa of suction, it is one of the most powerful robot vacuums available, capable of pulling dirt from deep within carpets. AI obstacle avoidance, room and furniture recognition, and voice control let you target specific cleaning areas with ease.
PowerBoost Technology lets the DEEBOT recharge quickly while it cleans up its mop roller, restoring 6 percent of battery power in three minutes. For larger homes, this means it’ll get the job done with less downtime.
At $1,499, it is a premium option, but it has the feature set to dramatically reduce how often you need to clean your floors yourself. — Paul Antill
Best headphones: JLab JBuds Open Headphones
The JLab JBuds Open Headphones are a design marvel. They are open-backed, which means there’s no traditional casing you might expect from over-ear headphones.
While this means, naturally, they don’t have ANC capabilities, these aren’t everyday, jaunting-around-town headphones. The JBuds Open Headphones are for serious listening sessions, when you really want to focus on the music.
It’s a good thing, then, that the music actually sounds great. We tested these headphones out very briefly and were blown away by how deep the bass was. Even over Spotify and weak Wi-Fi, which doesn’t really give Bluetooth devices the best chance, the JBuds Open Headphones were groovy, powerful, and, most of all, we could still hear everything happening around us.
Open Headphones have a specific use case, so we wouldn’t recommend them for airplanes or noisy environments. However, design innovation, lack of audio leaking, and excellent music quality mark the JBuds Open Headphones as our best headphones of IFA 2025. — Erin Bashford
Best speaker: We Are Rewind GB-001
This is it: a speaker that can do everything. Well, it can’t fly, or do my dishes, or clean my house — but if we’re talking solely about audio performance? Yeah, it can do everything.
The We Are Rewind GB-001 is a multi-talented superstar: a Bluetooth speaker, a wired speaker, a cassette player, a cassette recorder, an amp, a karaoke machine… There’s a reason why the GB-001 is our best speaker of IFA 2025.
Not only is it a multi-talented superstar, it also performs said talents exceptionally well. The GB-001 has ground-shaking bass and clear, defined treble without being tinny or pinching. There are individual dials on the speaker itself for even more customization. This is an incredibly unique product that we’re so excited to get our hands on to review. — Erin Bashford
Best concept device: Lenovo Thinkbook VertiFlex
I got to check out the ThinkBook VertiFlex Concept at a pre-IFA event in NYC, and it’s one of the most interesting concepts I’ve ever seen. The name doesn’t quite tell the whole story, but this laptop has a dual-track hinge that lets its display flip from horizontal to vertical.
That vertical mode is a game-changer, giving you 45% more screen space for scrolling through web pages or long message threads. When it’s vertical, the sides of the display show some empty space, but it’s covered with a soft Felt material. That Felt does double duty: it keeps the aluminum sides from scratching and makes sure the display rotates smoothly.
Even though it’s a bit thicker than a MacBook Air, the ThinkBook VertiFlex Concept feels surprisingly thin and light, weighing just 3.06 pounds. I was impressed by how portable it is—I could see myself forgetting it’s even in my backpack when I’m traveling.
Another awesome thing about this concept is how it can tether a smartphone in vertical mode. You can pop your phone into that empty space and connect it to the laptop with Lenovo Smart Connect, which means easy file transfers and phone mirroring. This is one of those devices you just have to see to believe. — Tony Polanco
Best drone: Antigravity A1
When flying a drone, content creators have to multitask between making sure they’re getting the right shot, that the drone is heading in the right direction, and that the shiny piece of kit is not going to be flown into any obstacles. The Antigravity A1 fixes a lot of this in one simple way — by being the first 8K 360-degree drone. Simply focus on flying it, then frame the shot later.
On top of that, controlling it is a cinch with two key elements. The remote control is really nicely laid out ergonomically with controls for height and movement placed perfectly under each finder, and with motion controls built in to rotate as you turn.
And the main showpiece that brings it altogether are the goggles. Yes, they do look a bit weird, but the immersive flying experience of being able to look all around you is simply mesmerizing. Plus, for onlookers, there’s a display facing outwards so they can see what you’re seeing.
The A1 has really thought of everything here in terms of making high quality drone footage a real easy experience for anyone to capture. — Jason England
Best smart glasses: Rokid Glasses
Rokid Glasses are launching soon, and after getting plenty of hands-on (and eyes-on) time here at IFA, these are that future of smart glasses I see that bring the worlds of AR and AI together to make a legitimately helpful package.
On paper, you’re getting some strong specs here: Snapdragon AR1 chipset, 12MP camera, dual directional speakers with 4-mic array, and dual monochrome Micro LED waveguide displays. But when this all comes together, there are some seriously tasty use cases.
Be it live language translation, multimodal AI support via ChatGPT-5, visual directions overlaid onto the glasses, or even showing a camera viewfinder so you know what you’re taking a picture of. It’s all here, and it’s super easy to use and control via either voice or touch interactions.
And at an MSRP of $599 for the glasses, Rokid Glasses could pose a serious challenge to the rumored Meta Hypernova that could cost double. — Jason England
Best home entertainment device: XGIMI Horizon 20 Max
XGIMI’s flagship Horizon series projector gets big upgrades in picture quality and gaming features with their new Horizon 20 Max.
This is XGIMI’s first home projector to offer Lens Shift which allows you to move the projected image up, down, left, or right (V±120% / H±45%) without any scaling or distortion which results in sharper visuals.
The projector jumps to 5700 ISO lumens of brightness which is made possible by their new X-Master Red Ring Lens and RGB triple-laser array that supports Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and IMAX enhanced optics, along with a new Pro Tuning mode that provides excellent picture quality even in daylight or high-ambient light environments.
They haven’t forgotten about gamers either, as their partnership with Assassin’s Creed: Shadows shows off the projector’s capabilities for premium gaming as well, with 1ms input lag, a 240Hz refresh rate, and VRR. It’s available now for $2,999, which isn’t cheap, but they are offering an early bird deal that includes a free floor stand and game code for Assassin’s Creed for $2,399. For those who want a cinema level and a big game screen experience at home, the Horizon 20 Max delivers. — Paul Antill
Best AI innovation: Viam OpenNote
The saying “Jack of all trades, master of none” exists for a reason. It can be really tricky, nay impossible, to create a product that can do it all. More often than not, when a set of earbuds are “AI-focused”, they simply do not have the technical makeup to be really good for everything else.
Fortunately, the Viaim OpenNote earbuds do not suffer from those maladies. We tested them out for music and podcasts briefly, and the sound quality was astounding. The earbuds are capable of live translation in 16 languages. Not only can they live translate, but the OpenNote are powered by ChatGPT for transcription and meeting summaries.
Thanks to the open-ear fit, these earbuds are perfect for fitness, office use, and everyday listening. We can’t wait to get our hands on these for a comprehensive review. — Erin Bashford
Best charging accessory: Aukey MagFusion Ark
When it comes to wireless chargers, you’re normally limited to some preset options — slots for your phones and earbuds. But the Aukey MagFusion Ark does this differently. Instead, you’ve got a 6-in-1 modular design that makes this not just a great home charger, but also a fantastic option for those on-the-go too.
There are six Qi 2.2 modules here that support up to 25W fast charging, and those three orb on top also have 6,700mAh batteries in them. So technically, you could charge all your devices, and have a portable charging option ready to pick up and head out at a moment’s notice.
To maintain those zippy charging speeds, there are intelligent cooling fans in the orbs, and the configurability of charging multiple devices at the same time makes this a stellar option for a busy home of devices. It gives me the same vibes as Apple’s failed experiment AirPower, but now Aukey has made it real and impressively modular. Now, if they could expand the ecosystem with mode modules to charge smart watches too, that would be significant. — Jason England
Best mobility tech – Hypershell X Ultra
Hypershell has been working on exoskeletons for a few years now, but its latest bears the name Ultra, marking it as the new top model in the company’s line-up. And it more than deserves that honor.
With more power, lighter materials and a longer range, the Hypershell X Ultra is ready to help its wearer go further, no matter how rough the ground. It would work great for dedicated adventurers, but can also help less confident users feel comfortable pushing past their limits. And all while weighing a barely-noticeable four pounds.
Having worn the exoskeleton to climb a large Berlin hill, I can confirm it makes an otherwise intimidating hike feel much more manageable. It’s genuinely helpful in a way you’ll only really understand if you wear it. I hope if you’re curious, you can find a demo near you! — Richard Priday
So that’s IFA for another year, and this year’s show served us up plenty to get excited about. Of course, this is only a first look at some of these devices so we’ll be following up in the weeks and months to come to put the release versions through their paces and deliver the ultimate verdict on whether or not they’re right for you.
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