IFA Press Conference Highlights Growing Footprint, 2018 Trends

To cap off the multi-day even in Rome, IFA invited all journalists and industry guests to a local theater for a presentation that dove into the opportunities that both IFA and consumer electronics retailers have throughout the rest of 2018. The Space Cinema Pardo de’Medici was the site for the annual Global Press Conference, which featured in-depth market analysis and general IFA updates from a rotating panel of industry leaders.

From a global sales perspective, data from global market research firm GfK show that total sales of consumer electronics will total more than $1.014 trillion in 2018, up 3.9 percent over last year. That growth, GfK said, will be driven by continued demand for three major categories of product: smartphones (which will be up 4 percent to $487 billion), smart speakers (up 230 percent to more than 150 million units), and TVs (up 14 percent to $122 billion).

“Products and product categories are ever more connected,” said Hans-Joachim Kamp, chairman of the supervisory board of gnu Consumer & Home Electronics, the organizers behind IFA. “In our everyday lives, we can see the immediate impact in Consumer Electronics and Home Appliances, and that’s why IFA is the best place and platform to explore and showcase these big technology trends. No other trade show meets the needs of leading brands, retailers, consumers and media so comprehensively as IFA does.”