‘CAN’ shows the future of home appliance manufacturers. It is a keyword that penetrates the “IFA 2023,” Europe’s largest consumer electronics and IT (information technology) exhibition, which opened in Berlin, Germany on the 1st of this month. Although domestic home appliance makers such as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are still firmly leading the global market, it also means that super-gap technology is needed to beat China’s fierce pursuer.The “IFA,” which marks its 99th anniversary this year, will end on the 5th (local time). Organizers of the German Consumer Electronics Association (GFU) estimated that more than 2,000 companies from about 150 countries participated in the exhibition, which opened on the 1st, and nearly 180,000 visitors visited the site. It is the largest since the COVID-19 pandemic.
A large number of Chinese home appliance manufacturers have returned to this year’s IFA. One out of two exhibition halls is a Chinese company. The number of Chinese companies participating this time is 1,293, far more than Germany (228 companies), Korea (165 companies), and the United States (61 companies). In particular, the exhibition halls of major Chinese home appliance and IT companies such as Hisense, TCL, Haier, Maidi, Changhong, and Honor were not only major hubs but also considerable in size. TCL was the main sponsor at the “CES 2023” held in Las Vegas in January, and Hisense is the sponsor of this year’s IFA, continuing to expand their influence through all kinds of volume attacks. China also poured raw criticism during the event to check Korean companies. “The thickness of the Samsung Galaxy (Z Fold 5) is 13.4mm,” Honor said in a keynote speech. “It’s almost 40% thicker than Honor’s (Foldable Phone) Magic V2,” he shot.
In addition, a Haier official who was recently at the scene said, “The hegemony of Korean home appliance companies is now over.” At the same time, TCL said that it has caught up with its technology by selecting its competitor as Samsung Electronics (005930). Meanwhile, Chinese companies introduced the latest products such as ultra-large TVs, foldable phones, transparent OLEDs, and AI (Artificial Intelligence) home appliances at this exhibition. It also made it clear that it is keeping pace with market trends, emphasizing high-efficiency energy and product connectivity. In addition to Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, Chinese and European companies have created spaces such as smart homes and smart cooking that emphasize connectivity in this exhibition booth. Its strategy is to connect all devices centered on home appliances such as TVs and maximize user convenience.
This hyper-connection consists of ‘intelligent Internet of Things (AIoT)’ that adds AI’s super-intelligence to the connectivity of IoT. In particular, companies that want to provide advanced experiences are also striving to develop solutions, and AI chips are representative. Samsung Electronics announced at the exhibition that it plans to introduce home appliances with generative AI next year, and announced that it is developing ultra-low power AI chips with small neural network processing units (NPUs) so that optimal AI models can be applied to all home appliances.
Earlier, LG Electronics (066570) also announced that it will develop AI chips and OS (operating system) for home appliances for ‘smart home solutions’. In the future, even low-end products will be widely applied to all LG Electronics home appliances. Usually, IFA is known as a place where products unveiled at CES early every year are put on display to promote sales in the second half of the year. Among them, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics introduced new products such as washing dryers and module houses at the exhibition. Analysts say it has solidified market leadership. However, it is explained that “New Tech” is essential to ensure market dominance and beat China.There is still an optimistic atmosphere among Korean companies, saying, “China is still far away” and “Chinese companies are for domestic consumption,” but it is pointed out that they should not be relieved. In particular, the presence of Japanese companies in this IFA was ‘0’.
Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, and Sharp participated, but they failed to show much influence due to being hit by South Korea and China. The location of the exhibition booth was relatively far, and the size of the booth was also smaller than that of Korea and China. This year’s IFA confirmed once again that the reputation of Japanese home appliance makers is not the same as in the past. For this reason, some say that the reins should be reinforced with new technologies or products in order not to be overtaken by China.
Meanwhile, Sony did not set up a separate product exhibition space at this year’s IFA, but only operated a business meeting room.
JULIE KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
