BGR's Best Of IFA 2026: The Most Exciting Tech We Saw

We got to see and get our hands on a wide range of exciting technology at IFA 2026. After an opening ceremony highlighting the next generation of wearables, robots, and AI, we stepped into that vision of the future on the show floor. More importantly, most of the technologies unveiled at the trade show, from ShowStoppers to the showfloor, are actual products that are either already available or coming soon. Among the best products introduced at IFA 2026, there's XGIMI's ultra-short-throw projector, Xiaomi's hotly-anticipated foldable phone, and Agibot's humanoid robot that can write.

These products have been selected from everything we saw on the show floor, but they're also just a small slice of a broader event with over 2,000 exhibitors from all over the world — each with specific features and use cases. IFA is a massive event with a bit of everything, from gadgets for smartphones — including Anker's all new lineup of chargers and desktop hubs — smart home appliances focused on the European market, drones, TVs, and more.

This is BGR's selection of the best of IFA 2026. We're highlighting the most exciting humanoid robots, phones, robot vacuums, glasses, and projectors we saw, including a few honorable mentions that made the 102nd edition of IFA one of the most intriguing trade shows in recent years.

Agibot is currently one of the most important humanoid robot manufacturers in the industry. In June 2026, the company produced its 15,000th robot. At the time, Agibot had built over 3,500 A series robots, almost 7,000 X1 models, and over 4,700 G1 robots. With its latest A3 robot, Agibot was able to achieve a new level of precision, as the robot is now mastering Chinese calligraphy.

This advancement is thanks to the company's OmniHand 3 Ultra-M hand, which features 20 active degrees of freedom with a fully direct-drive actuation. According to the company, this hand can hold up to 5 kilograms of weight and can open or close the hand in 0.3 seconds with high accuracy. With fingertip sensors, it can easily detect changes in an object's position, the amount of pressure it needs to use, and what it's in front of it — all important tools that have made Chinese calligraphy a reality.

This robot is 1.74 meters tall and weighs 60 kg (~132 pounds). In total, it has 51 active degrees of freedom and includes some of the latest technologies in humanoid robots, such as 3D LiDAR, RGB-D cameras, fisheye cameras and binocular vision, as well as GPS, RTK, and UWB positioning. The robot also uses NVIDIA's Jetson Thor platform for AI processing. While calligraphy was the highlight, Agibot also says over 100 robots can be coordinated at the same time to perform a task thanks to the ultra-wide band chip, making this robot great for factory work, coordinated presentations, and more. We also listed it among our best humanoid robots of IFA 2026.

A couple years ago, BGR went to China to check out an upcoming lineup of projectors by XGIMI. At the time, we were impressed by the first iteration of the Aura ultra-short-throw (UST) projector, as the output was sharp and clear, even with some ambient light in the room. Over the years (and the trade shows), XGIMI would show off its new offerings by in darker environments to demonstrate the quality of the image — as a projector company would do — but at IFA 2026, something changed. At its booth and at ShowStoppers, XGIMI had little to no protection against direct light, and yet the new Aura 3 Max was delivering a very sharp and bright image.

While there's still only so much a projector can do, seeing it in person was impressive. With a brightness rating of 5,700 ISO lumens, XGIMI can deliver a 120-inch image while sitting just eight inches away from the wall. For the first time, a UST projector also features true 4K at 120 Hz, as the company focuses not only on an outstanding image for movies and TV shows, but also for gamers to enjoy their favorite titles on a really big screen.

This is all possible thanks to the company's Dynamic Dual Iris tech, which controls apertures optically to regulate light, improve blacks, and increase contrast. This projector launches on Kickstarter next month, with an early bird price of $2,399 for the highest-end model.

Held back in secrecy throughout most of IFA 2026, we were one of the few publications to go hands-on with the Xiaomi 18 Fold, the company's first passport-style foldable device. With over 380 products on display at the trade show, the one Xiaomi device we all wanted to use was behind thick glass. In our hands-on experience, we weren't made privy to the specifications, besides the fact that Xiaomi is using a proprietary high-end chip and the phone has a three-lens camera module.

While using the phone with the outer display felt a bit odd due to its small form factor, the unfolded device feels like an iPad mini, which could be used in both landscape or portrait orientations. When the phone was in landscape mode, the way everything was displayed made it feel like I had two full-size smartphone displays to use, while in portrait, it felt like a tablet.

Since this format has become all the rage since the launch of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and as the expected design of Apple's first foldable phone, there was no other smartphone at IFA that could beat the hype of Xiaomi's 18 Fold. Even though I still have my doubts about the black bars when watching social media videos or while typing, this device has now been officially unveiled in China, we now know much more about the Xiaomi 18 Fold after using it ourselves. It truly is the year of passport-style foldable phones, but will this trend last?

IFA 2026 always has plenty of robot vacuums. Among the highlights, there's Roborock's expanded Saros 20 lineup with a proper roller mop, Eufy's (Anker) robot vacuum with certification to protect people with asthma and other health conditions, and then there's Dreame. With its new Aqua20 Pro Ultra Roller X Complete model, the company focused on taking cleaning to the next level with an onboard steam generator that can warm the water in a few seconds to 180 degrees and eliminate kitchen grease and dried-on stains.

According to the company, this intense heat can soften and dissolve greasy residues even before the roller mop makes contact with the floor — ensuring the mop doesn't get dirty and the robot doesn't need to clean the same space several times. Dreame promises 18N of downward pressure at 300 RPM to tackle difficult messes and promotes an almost perfect score of eliminating bacteria.

This robot vacuum features a powerful 40,000 Pa suction rating, a dual detangling roller system, and a ProLeap threshold-climbing mechanism that is said to overcome obstacles up to 10 cm tall. Another highlight of the product is how seamlessly Dreame says it transitions between hard floor and rugs or carpet. After all, while the robot needs pressure to mop hard floors, a wet rug would be a nightmare. For now, Dreame is selling this robot vacuum in Europe for €1,499 (approximately $1,750).

Just like last year, IFA 2026 was full of smart glasses. While some companies were doubling down on their 2025 announcements, others, like XREAL, were officially debuting their visions of the future at the trade show. While XREAL is no stranger to BGR (we reviewed its One Pro headset), there are several features that set the yet-to-be-released Aura glasses apart. For example, this is the first time a brand has partnered with Google for this kind of mixed reality wearable, and this one runs on Android XR — Google's visionOS-like software.

With hand gestures in the air, I was able to control the glasses' interface, navigate through an immersive Google Maps experience, and even ask Gemini for help on a Steam Deck game. With a massive display in front of my eyes — as the XREAL Aura features two Micro-OLED screens with 1920 x 1200 resolution and 120 Hz refresh rates — I could understand why the company suggested these glasses could be great for gaming, media consumption, and productivity.

For example, users are able to connect peripherals to the headset's pad and mirror the display of those devices seamlessly. In addition, a fun innovation from the XREAL Aura is that the battery pack doubles as a mouse, so users only need a keyboard to use the glasses as a computer. While eye strain did hit me after 20 minutes of usage, there's a lot of potential with these glasses, and customers will be able to go hands-on with them when they launch this fall.