IFA 2026, Hisense unveils its AI-based smart home

At IFA 2026, currently underway in Berlin, Hisense illustrated its strategy for artificial intelligence applied to the connected home, outlining a path that will lead household appliances to transform from simple passive devices to assistants capable of anticipating user needs. At the heart of the announcement is V AIOS, the next generation smart home operating system, which builds on more than ten years of development of the VIDAA and ConnectLife platforms to coordinate televisions, appliances and home services into a single ecosystem.

According to the company, V AIOS is designed to recognize users, interpret context and emotions, and autonomously manage daily tasks, from preparing the environment for watching a game to supporting the safety and well-being of older family members. Hisense also underlined the attention paid to privacy and transparency, focusing on local data processing using Edge AI technologies, with the declared aim of building a system based on user trust as well as technical capabilities.

The ConnectLife platform remains the cornerstone of this strategy: through advanced artificial intelligence, multimodal interaction and data exchange between devices, it enables proactive services in areas such as cooking, laundry care, air quality and energy management, also integrating with external platforms, retailers and energy service providers. To complete the offer comes the new generation of AI Companion appliances, designed to automate activities such as creating recipes, managing washing programs and regulating the home climate based on the family’s habits, with a further expansion of the range expected within the year.

In parallel with the technological presentation, Hisense confirmed the continuation of its partnership with UEFA in view of UEFA EURO 2028. The relationship between the company and the European tournament dates back to 2016, when Hisense became the first Chinese sponsor in the history of the competition; since then the collaboration has been consolidated until UEFA EURO 2024, the edition in which the group supplied the screens for the VAR technology. Catherine Fang, VP of Hisense Group, defined the path with UEFA as growth built “side by side”, while Guy-Laurent Epstein, marketing director of UEFA, spoke of a partnership that has now spanned four consecutive editions of the tournament.

The numbers confirm the growing weight of the brand globally: with 41 production plants, 32 research and development centers and 65 companies worldwide, Hisense is present in over 160 markets. Overall revenues have doubled over the past decade, reaching $31.4 billion in 2025, while those generated in foreign markets grew 300%, to $15.5 billion. In Europe, where the group is aiming for a 10% market share, Hisense Europe expects to exceed five billion euros in turnover this year.

On the sustainability front, Hisense Europe has obtained the EcoVadis Platinum recognition for the second consecutive year for its European production hub Gorenje, a result which places the company in the top 1% of over 150 thousand companies assessed globally and which makes it the only manufacturer of large household appliances to have achieved this milestone for two years in a row. Until September 9, IFA visitors will be able to discover the latest products from the Hisense, Gorenje and Asko brands at the group’s exhibition area, in Hall 23a.