Haier’s home tech at IFA 2025 made me excited about smart homes again

IFA 2025 isn’t short on flashy tech. You can’t walk ten steps in Berlin’s giant halls without bumping into some brand promising to reinvent your kitchen or living room. But Haier Europe’s presence this year felt different. Rather than cramming in specs and gimmicks, its 3,000m² stand was built around one idea: Naturally Connected.

That’s Haier’s way of saying the smart home should be about people, not just appliances like smart lights and smart speakers.

At the centre of that vision is the hOn app, which now connects 10 million users across Europe. It’s like the brain of Haier’s smart ecosystem. It doesn’t just switch on ovens or send washing notifications – it links appliances to solar panels, air treatment, and more, with AI quietly making things smarter in the background.

At IFA, each Haier branch showed how AI-powered features can make home life less of a chore, whether that’s saving energy, planning meals, or syncing your washer and dryer.

One of the most important announcements at the show is Haier’s partnership with AWorld, the United Nations and EU-backed engagement platform that gamifies sustainability.

Inside the hOn app, you’ll soon see challenges, quizzes, and nudges to cut your carbon footprint. This feels like a natural fit with what Haier’s already doing. The brand has just hit its 2025 goal of sourcing 60-percent of its energy from renewables and is now pushing for even tougher targets: cutting its own emissions by half and reducing product use emissions by 42-percent by 2030. Those numbers aren’t just PR – they’re verified by the Science Based Targets initiative.

The tech itself is no less ambitious. Haier’s Next Generation laundry range caught my eye (I know, I’m getting old). Washing machines now come with nine sensors and an AI camera to guide you through tricky loads. They remember your habits, suggest the best cycles, and even sync with dryers to avoid wasting time or energy. If you’re a neat freak, the new Couture Care Collection goes further, including a “Wardrobe” that freshens clothes with app-connected care cycles.

Food is another pillar. The Horizon Collection refrigerators show Haier knows wellness and sustainability are driving choices. Huge capacity, energy efficiency, and even built-in water and ice systems make them practical but also slick enough to disappear into any kitchen. One neat touch is “Absolute Ice”, a slim dispenser tucked into the door that gives cubed or crushed ice without hogging interior space.

Cooking gets the AI treatment, too. The Steam ID 2 ovens can sense humidity levels and tweak steam output in real time, giving you a shot at pro-level results without constant fiddling. And on the cleaning side, Haier’s I-Pro Shine dishwasher adds Biovitae LED tech that wipes out 99.99-percent of bacteria.

Small appliances weren’t forgotten either. The new I-Master 3 air fryer range comes in three flavours: one with panoramic viewing, another with dual drawers for separate dishes, and a flexible model that can handle up to nine servings.

Walking through the stand, the message was clear: Haier isn’t just adding AI for the sake of it, it’s trying to build a connected ecosystem where devices talk to each other, adapt to you, and do it all with an eye on sustainability. That’s why I’m excited about smart home again.

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