MakeUseOf's Best of IFA 2024 Awards (2024)

IFA brings tons of new tech to check out every September, and we're on the ground once again this year to go hands-on with what's available at the show.

Here are our selections of the best products from IFA 2024—and why they caught our attention.

1 Honor Magic V3

The Honor Magic V3 debuted at IFA 2024 as the world’s slimmest inward foldable smartphone, demonstrating how much the foldable smartphone format has matured over the past few years. Honor even invited a world-leading table-tennis player to use it as the paddle in a game hosted at the event.

Even if you've hesitated to buy a foldable, the Honor Magic V3 should catch your eye.

Despite the slimmer design, the Magic V3 features a 7.92-inch internal foldable screen, with an eye-catching 6.43-inch external display. Both displays are bright, but the external display really pushes the envelope here, with its 5000 nits peak brightness one of the most dazzling screens around. In addition, both screens have a 120Hz refresh rate and can display one billion colors, and come Dolby Vision equipped.

Honor has also given the Magic V3 a larger 5150mAh battery with 66W wired charging and rapid 50W wireless charging, while powering the unit is Qualcomm's powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset with up to 16GB RAM and 1TB storage.

It's a corker.

2 Honor MagicPad 2

Alongside the Honor Magic V3, Honor also launched its new MagicPad2, a 12.3-inch ultra-thin tablet. Measuring just 5.8mm thick and weighing a slight 555g (20oz), Honor’s new MagicPad2 can be considered the go-to alternative for those shunning an iPad in favor of an Android-based experience.

Its screen is particularly eye-catching, featuring Honor’s Eye Comfort Display and a 144Hz refresh rate, complete with 4320Hz PWM dimming to maximize comfort while in use.

The MagicPad2 is powerful under the hood, too. Powered by Qualcomm’s impressive Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip, it also packs a substantial 10050mAh battery to boot. The Snapdragon chip also enables Honor’s AI-powered Magic Portal, allowing the tablet to learn about your workflows and help optimize your productivity.

3 Tecno Megabook T16 Pro Ultra

We've long been fans of Tecno's Megabook laptop series, and its upgraded Megabook T16 Pro Ultra is a performance beast compared to the previous version (launched at MWC 2024). The Pro Ultra now comes equipped with deeper AI integrations through its Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU, up to 32GB LPDDR5 RAM, up to 1TB PCIe 4.0 storage, and a whopping 99.99Wh battery.

The 16-inch, 16:10, 2.5K resolution screen looks incredible, and with 400 nits brightness and 100% sRGB coverage, it's easy on the eyes, too.

4 Withings ScanWatch Nova Brilliant

Instead of a wrist-worn computer, Withings specializes in creating great-looking smartwatches that also help track health and fitness data. The latest from the company, ScanWatch Nova Brilliant, is a high-quality addition to the lineup. The 39mm case is made for smaller wrists, while the watch itself sports a sapphire glass face.

Along with its elegant look, the hybrid smartwatch sports a variety of health features. It can take an ECG, display your blood oxygen, track workouts, and more. Instead of being tied to a charger nightly, the watch can go for up to 30 days on a single charge.

The ScanWatch Nova Brilliant will be available in November and retail for $599.95. It’s available in silver or bicolor silver/gold options.

5 SwitchBot K10+ Pro Combo

No amount of dust and dirt in your home can hide when you're using the SwitchBot K10+ Pro Combo.

Along with a smaller robot vacuum that can handle smaller spaces, the system comes with a lightweight cordless vacuum so you can clean the floor and out-of-the-way places like windows and ceilings. Both vacuums automatically empty into a base station that needs emptying roughly every 70 days. The system is compatible with multiple smart home platforms, including Matter, when using a compatible hub.

The system will be available in November for $799.99.

6 Acer Project DualPlay

Gaming laptops have long offered the best of both worlds for many people—high-performance computing on a relatively portable device. However, the proliferation of handheld gaming Windows PCs from mainstream brands like the Asus ROG Ally X and Lenovo Legion Go means the gaming laptop is slowly losing its luster. That is, until the arrival of the Acer Project DualPlay laptop.

This concept device combines the best parts of gaming laptops and handheld gaming consoles—you get a relatively large display (compared to the seven- to eight-inch screens on handhelds), a full keyboard, and a trackpad. But what makes the Project DualPlay unique is that you can detach the trackpad and use it as a wireless controller, turning your gaming laptop into a portable console (although not quite handheld).

As an added bonus, you can detach the left and right sides of the controller like a Nintendo Switch, allowing you to experience two-player games on your laptop like never before. And when you release the handheld controller of the DualPlay laptop, its 5-watt pop-out speaker comes out from the body, allowing you to have a more immersive gaming experience all in the form factor of a laptop.

7 Anker Soundcore Space One Pro

Soundcore is well known for its line of high-quality audio products for budget-conscious buyers. And the Space Pro One introduced at IFA 2024 looks to be another hit.

To help block out noise, the headphones feature six microphones to detect and cancel noise in real time. When not in use, the headphones quickly fold up in a compact form factor that reduces their size by 50 percent. You can enjoy up to 60 hours of music playback before needing to recharge with USB-C. A five-minute charge can produce up to eight additional hours of playback in a pinch.

They're also remarkably comfortable, slipping around your ears and creating a snug seal without feeling tight. The fit helps the ANC and music playback, and it's clear than Anker has spent time upgrading the original Space One headphones.

The headphones are available now for $199.99. An optional travel case is an additional $34.99.

8 UGREEN UNO Series 100W Charger

Ugreen is known for its innovations in the charging space, and the Uno Series 100W charger bears the markings of its expertise. Despite being a relatively small device, this charger lets you juice up four devices with its three USB-C ports and one USB-A port. It also has a small LED screen that shows the status of the charger through different cute facial expressions, similar to the Ugreen Nexode RG chargers we've reviewed.

The high output of the Uno Series 100W charger means you don’t have to spend a lot of time tied up to an outlet. For example, if you’re only using one port at a time, it could power an empty 16-inch MacBook Pro from empty to 43% in half an hour. And even if you use all four ports simultaneously, you can still get 45 and 30 watts on the top two USB-C ports, which should be more than enough for most phones.

9 MSI Claw 8 AI+

We’re always excited to see what the world of gaming handheld consoles is launching next, and IFA 2024 brought with it the official launch of the MSI Claw 8 AI+. Although this was technically revealed at Computex, it was behind glass, and no one could touch or play with it. This time out, we've had some much-needed hands-on time with MSI's new unit.

The new handheld has a larger screen than its predecessor, featuring an 8-inch display for a more immersive gaming experience. It’s also the first Windows 11 gaming handheld to feature an Intel Core Ultra Series 2 processor. The second generation processors promise more power and deeper AI integration.

Other upgrades include its larger 80Wh battery, the addition of another Thunderbolt 4-supported USB-C port, and a smaller wall-mounted charger. MSI has also refreshed the handheld’s design to set it apart from the competition.

10 TCL 50 Pro NXTPAPER 5G

More devices should be like TCL's 50 Pro NXTPAPER 5G. It doesn't just look good—it also serves multiple purposes, working as a smartphone and an e-reader, with built-in functionality to switch between modes. I also like the new inclusion of the NXTPAPER Key, a handy little switch that makes it incredibly simple to switch into Max Ink Mode, turning the screen into full-reader mode. There's also a nice transition between them.

The TCL 50 Pro NXTPAPER 5G's 6.8-inch S-IPS screen has a 1080x2460 resolution with a 120Hz refresh rate, which is great for the eyes. It comes with a 5100mAh battery, 512GB storage, and 8GB RAM. The only downside is the slightly underpowered Dimensity 6300 chipset, but as a device focused on productivity, reading, and so on, it's unlikely to cause an issue.