3 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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IFA 2026

Europe’s biggest consumer technology trade show, IFA, is taking place from September 4–8, 2026. Companies from around the world will pack into Berlin’s massive Messe exhibition center to show off their wares. IFA sees a host of announcements across audio, TV, wearable, smartphone, and smart home brands, along with some of Europe’s biggest home appliance manufacturers. This year robotics and AI will likely be making a big splash at the German trade show.

Cameron Faulkner
Cameron Faulkner
More buttons for the original Switch Pro controller.

Jsaux has launched the Elite Extender, a $39.99 accessory for the original Nintendo Switch Pro controller that reminds me a bit of Sony’s Back Button Attachment for the PS4. It adds up to four mappable buttons for your most frequently-used buttons or for macros. The accessory boasts a 1,800mAh battery, though the host controller’s Amiibo functionality won’t work while it’s attached.

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Cameron Faulkner
Cameron Faulkner
A capable little controller that lets you offer a helping hand.

Jsaux is launching the S1 Pro, a small $49.99 wireless controller that can wake the Switch 2, and connect to various other platforms via Bluetooth, 2.4GHz, or USB-C. It features Switch-like TMR sticks, gyro controls, and adjustable trigger throw distances. But its marquee feature is that it lets you connect two S1 Pros to a single 2.4GHz transmitter, and swap player assignments in local multiplayer games at will, so player two can jump in to help with a difficult part.

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Image: Jsaux
Get ready for a really busy month of smartphones

Xiaomi, Apple, Huawei, and more are all launching flagship phones this month.

Dominic Preston
Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
LG’s smart home is getting a terribly named chatbot.

Its conversational AI agent is called ThinQ Claw (a riff on OpenClaw) and builds on its acquisition of Homey. LG says it can “understand user intent and context and help complete tasks by connecting and coordinating relevant services and devices,” be they LG appliances or third-party products. It’s being demoed for the first time at the big IFA tech show kicking off later this week.

Now with AI.
Now with AI.
Image: LG
First look: DJI’s Romo robot vacuum

This sucker can’t fly, but it can avoid your socks.

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
The best stuff announced at IFA

A ball-catching robot tennis coach, cuddly AI robots, and a laptop with a rotating screen for optimal doomscrolling.

Andrew Liszewski and Jess Weatherbed
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Watch me unlock a smart lock using Aliro.

In the first public demo of the new universal language for smart locks, I used a Samsung Galaxy S24 to tap-to-open a Nuki smart lock. No app necessary, and no need to unlock the phone first.

Aliro is based on Apple’s NFC Home Key technology and will support UWB unlocking, allowing any smartphone to securely unlock any door lock, regardless of ecosystem or brand. The Aliro standard is scheduled to launch later this year.

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
I played tennis with a robot.

It’s a bucket list item for a tech journalist slash tennis fan. So, when I heard the Acemate Tennis Robot was coming to the IFA tech show in Berlin, I was first in line (like, literally off the plane and on to the court).

It was surprisingly fun, and the bot easily kept up with me using its two 4K binocular cameras and omnidirectional wheels. But I didn’t enjoy its post-match critique quite as much.

Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
This Navee E-scooter is very Trump-coded.

The customized XT5 Ultra model on display at IFA isn’t solid gold, but a PR rep told me that the company wanted to showcase designs like this because they “have appeal in the US market.”

A golden Navee XT5 Ultra E-scooter on display at IFA.
Hard to argue with that.
Image: Jess Weatherbed / The Verge
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Lights, cameras, action!

It’s officially Day 1 of the IFA 2025 tech show, and I made a beeline for the Smart Home hall, where I’ll be checking out new products from Govee (like these fetching new pendant lights — coming soon), Aqara, Reolink, Aeotec, Shelly, and more.

Stay tuned to our IFA story stream for all the news.

Govee’s new pendant ceiling lights have three individually controllable lighting zones and offer full color and tunable white light.
Govee’s new pendant ceiling lights have three individually controllable lighting zones and offer full color and tunable white light.
Image: The Verge
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
The normally humdrum Lenovo ThinkPad looks pretty sick in white.

Lenovo’s 14- and 15-inch ThinkPad X9 Aura Edition laptops are getting a glacier white color treatment for IFA 2025. The X9 may be polarizing to hardcore ThinkPad fans because it lacks a TrackPoint, but I dig this clean look.

Now imagine if a ThinkPad came in, gasp, colors?

<em>A laptop fit for a stormtrooper.</em>
<em>Aren’t you a little trackpoint-less for a ThinkPad?</em>
1/6
A laptop fit for a stormtrooper.
Photo: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge