Consumer technology is getting better at doing things for us, instead of waiting for us to tell it what to do.
That was the big theme at IFA Berlin, which our team attended earlier this month. One of the world’s largest consumer technology shows, IFA is something of a European counterpart to CES — the major annual tech show in Las Vegas — but with a particular focus on electronics and home appliances. And unlike CES, it is also open to the public, drawing huge crowds alongside the industry.
As we walked the packed show floor, we noticed the same idea kept surfacing: products are becoming more intuitive, more autonomous and increasingly capable of fading into the background.
Here are a few trends we expect to carry into 2027.
The evolution of the autonomous home
The smart home is getting a major upgrade, moving beyond app-controlled devices toward technology that can understand its environment, make decisions and take action with less human intervention.
LG’s new AI agent, ThinQ Claw, is designed to coordinate across connected devices to make everyday routines more intuitive. Tell it you’re expecting guests, for example, and it can take stock of what you have on hand — say, ground beef, tomatoes and mozzarella — suggest a recipe for dinner (lasagna!) and coordinate connected appliances like the fridge and oven to help you get it on the table.
Another prime example is Bosch’s Built-In Vacuum and Mop Robot. As the name suggests, the robot and its service station are built directly into your cabinetry. After cleaning, it returns to its hidden station, where debris is emptied and the mop is cleaned and dried automatically. A pretty significant upgrade from the early robot vacuums that spent half their lives stranded under the dining table.
Our prediction for next year? Expect to see more robots capable of tackling increasingly complex household tasks and potentially more humanoid home robots ready for market. We’re not in robot-butler territory quite yet, but we’re moving closer.
AI moves from feature to foundation
It’s no surprise that AI was involved in seemingly every product category at IFA. What was more interesting was how little some products asked consumers to actively use it. We’re entering a phase where we can simply expect technology to understand context, anticipate needs and respond accordingly.
Midea’s SMART MASTER AI agent is a good example. Its “Welcome Home” mode can detect where you are in a room and adjust the airflow around you. It can also check what’s in the fridge, flag ingredients that may be past their prime and suggest what to eat. And when laundry day rolls around, it can scan a care label and choose the right wash cycle for you. (So no more accidentally shrinking your wool sweaters.)
The takeaway? AI is becoming less of a standalone feature and more of the invisible intelligence behind how products work.
Health tech gets more proactive
Wearables have become a firmly established consumer category. The next step is turning all that data into something genuinely useful: technology that can interpret what it’s seeing and help you act on it.
Take sleep. Plenty of people would argue they don’t need a device to tell them they slept poorly — they already know. DUVA ONE, a new sleep system that debuted at the conference, tries to actually do something about it. Its earbuds track things like heart rate patterns, sleep and movement, while a bedside dock monitors the room itself, including light, humidity, temperature and noise. Based on what it detects, the system can adjust your surroundings in real time to help create better conditions for sleep.
There’s also a growing opportunity to use technology to help older adults stay independent at home for longer. Chinese tech company Tuya unveiled Doova, a home companion robot designed with that goal in mind. It can help make sense of bills, connect users with family over video, flag potential scams and remind them when it’s time to take medication.
As populations age, expect to see more technology designed to support health and everyday living for older adults.
And one personal favorite...
While not a trend on the scale of the others, one piece of sports tech deserves an honorable mention: the Acemate S10 Pro, an AI-powered tennis robot designed to act more like an opponent than a traditional ball machine, simulating realistic shots and rallies.
As someone who has spent time hitting against traditional ball machines, that’s an upgrade I can get behind.
Technology that does more while asking less
Overall, IFA 2026 showed us that the next evolution of consumer technology is about asking less of us. Fewer taps, fewer decisions, fewer things to manage. The goal is for more of the work to happen quietly in the background.
With CES 2027 only a few months away, we’re excited to see how these trends evolve.
