The Future of Connectivity
The Future of Connectivity
Connecting With Tomorrow — Platforms and Products That Reshape Our Self-Perception
Communication & Connectivity
At IFA 2025, visitors can experience how platforms and products are reshaping the way we live together. A reality where smartphones are replaced by smart glasses, wearables and AI – is closer than you think. Intelligent glasses, connected wearables and voice-controlled interfaces are seamlessly integrating digital information into our surroundings.
What could life look like? Lena wakes up. Her smart mattress has chosen the optimal moment to bring her out of sleep. While brushing her teeth, her glasses display the day's schedule. Coffee is already brewed. The fridge has reordered groceries on its own. The e-bike is charged – the weather is nice, traffic is heavy, but the assistant has everything under control.
On her way to work, an XR headset guides Lena safely through the city: it detects red lights and warns of oncoming vehicles. In the office, there is no physical desk – instead, colleagues appear as holograms from New York, Shanghai and
Author: Alexis Waltz
Illustration: Antonia Mantey, @antimimosa
From Smartphone to Smart Experience
Digital connectivity is evolving – moving away from isolated devices and towards an ever-present interface between people, space and information. Extended Reality (XR), wearables and artificial intelligence are merging into a smart experience that permeates everyday life. Technology is no longer perceived merely as a tool – it blends into our surroundings, shaping decisions, habits and movements.
»IFA 2025 shows how smart technologies are transforming our lived reality«
Today’s Platforms, Tomorrow’s Realities
Platform giants like Meta and TikTok are also shaping this new reality. AR filters, VR worlds and AI-powered smart glasses are being developed not just to deliver content, but to create experiences. With AI-driven products like the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, Meta is pushing towards immersive realities that could transform work, education, commerce and social interaction. “It’s not just about consumption,” says Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s CTO, in an interview with Upload. “It’s about closeness. You can watch a baseball game with your dad – even when he’s not physically there.”
The Body as Interface
Wearables are turning the human body into a control centre. Sensors track sleep, stress and activity in real time. Devices and apps from WHOOP and Apple don’t just record data – they offer recommendations. Biofeedback is becoming part of daily routines, and health is being translated into algorithmic terms. But the more we measure, the more urgent the question: who owns this data – and how does it change the way we see ourselves?
Empowerment and Fragmentation
Connectivity mobilises: climate protests, solidarity campaigns and resistance to regimes. Algorithms create micro-publics that empower movements. Yet the same mechanisms also fragment society as echo chambers, confirmation bias and digital isolation grow. What connects us can also divide our perceptions, opinions and communities.
The Infrastructure of a New Reality
At IFA 2025, companies like Samsung or Meta are presenting entire ecosystems: XR, AI and secure data environments. It’s about standards (such as Matter for smart homes), platforms (like Meta Horizon) and security (with Samsung Knox). They’re not just shaping technology, they’re building our future way of life.
As Lena’s working day ends, she cycles through the city on her e-bike, thinking neither of meetings nor groceries – everything is already handled. What feels effortless is the result of complex systems, commercial interests and regulatory frameworks. IFA 2025 provides a space to understand this new reality – and shape it.
Explore at IFA
Key exhibitors in the sector:
- Ambience Experience
- LLVision
- Sunled
- KIWI Design
- WHOOP
- Ultrahuman
- Omn
- RingConn
- Bodyfriend
- Beurer
- Hypershell
- iRest
- And many more!
Programme Highlights:
- From ‘Future Dreams’ to ‘The New Normal’, Miele
5 Sept, 15:00, Innovation Stage - The Future of Intelligent Storage, UGREEN
6 Sept, 14:00, Dream Stage - Scene Setter – The Future of Connectivity, WGSN
8 Sept, 10:45, Dream Stage