IFA 2026 smart home coverage from Berlin (4–8 September) spanned Matter hubs, AI-driven cameras and a wave of robot vacuums, with brands from Anker to Xiaomi using the show to push local-AI processing and wider Matter compatibility. Below are the picks worth your attention, followed by a full rundown of everything else we've tracked from the show.
| Product | Best for | UK availability |
|---|---|---|
| Anker MindBase | A local-AI hub that talks to Home Assistant | Not yet available in the UK |
| Narwal Freo 20 Edge | Budget-friendly hot-water mop-and-vac | Not yet available in the UK |
| Heiman Matter 1.6 NFC sensor | Tap-to-pair Matter setup with zero pairing codes | Not yet available in the UK |
How we chose these picks?
We prioritised products with a genuine Home Assistant or Matter angle, a real UK-relevant use case, and at least one specification confirmed by the manufacturer or a reputable outlet at the show — not press-release claims alone. Concept demos with no confirmed release window are noted as such rather than presented as buyable products.
The picks
1. Anker MindBase — best for a local-AI hub that speaks Matter
Anker's Eufy-adjacent smart home arm used IFA 2026 to unveil MindBase, a local-processing AI hub designed to sit alongside Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa and Google Home rather than replace them, connecting Anker and Matter-compatible devices into one dashboard. We've covered the hub's Home Assistant compatibility in detail in our Anker MindBase deep dive.
The pitch is squarely aimed at households who want AI automation suggestions without sending video or audio to the cloud. Anker paired the hub launch with four new security devices at the same event, continuing its push into subscription-optional local storage.
Pricing and a UK release date were not confirmed at the show, so treat availability as TBC until Anker publishes a UK retail listing — not yet available in the UK.
2. Narwal Freo 20 Edge — best for affordable hot-water mopping
Narwal's fall 2026 lineup, unveiled at IFA, brings its FlowWash hot-water mop-refresh system — 60°C water at 12N of pressure — down to a lower price point than its flagship. The Freo 20 Edge sits alongside the pricier Freo 20 and a new V50 Cube cordless stick vacuum, with 31,000Pa of suction and AI-based obstacle recognition carried over from Narwal's higher-end robots.
For Home Assistant users the appeal is less about the AI marketing and more about a genuinely capable mop-and-vac combo at a price that undercuts most rivals in this roundup — none of the other robot vacuum launches at IFA 2026 matched FlowWash's continuous hot-water refresh at this tier.
US pricing was quoted at $799 for the Edge model; UK pricing and release timing were not confirmed at the show, so this is not yet available in the UK.
3. Dreame Aqua20 Pro Ultra Roller X Complete — best for steam pre-treatment
Dreame's IFA 2026 booth centred on the Aqua20 Pro Ultra Roller X Complete, the company's first robot vacuum to pair steam pre-treatment with a fresh-water roller mop, alongside high-temperature dock maintenance and improved threshold climbing. It's a direct answer to the hot-water mopping trend Narwal and others pushed at the same show.
The steam step is designed to loosen dried-on stains before the roller mop passes over them — useful for kitchens with tiled or hard-vinyl flooring, a common UK setup. Dreame also showed an action camera and a robotic lawnmower at the same booth, extending its outdoor ambitions.
No UK price or release date has been confirmed, so this is not yet available in the UK.
4. Heiman Matter 1.6 NFC sensor — best for zero-hassle Matter pairing
Heiman used IFA 2026 to demonstrate what appears to be the first working hardware showcasing Matter 1.6's zero-power NFC commissioning feature — tapping a phone against the sensor to pair it, with no pairing code or QR scan required. The same lineup included new smoke and CO alarms, a multi-protocol door and window sensor, and a Matter Bridge that pulls older Sub-GHz devices into mainstream ecosystems.
For anyone who has fought with a finicky Matter QR code at 11pm, NFC commissioning is a meaningfully better onboarding experience, and it signals that the wider Matter 1.6 spec is starting to reach real hardware rather than staying a slide-deck promise.
Heiman has not confirmed UK retail availability or pricing, so this is not yet available in the UK.
5. EZVIZ H90f Triple Pan & Tilt Wi-Fi Camera — best for wide-coverage indoor security
EZVIZ's IFA 2026 lineup included the H90f, a triple-lens pan-and-tilt indoor camera designed to cover a wider field of view than a typical single-lens model without needing multiple cameras in one room. It arrived alongside EZVIZ's broader push toward “local-first” AI processing, moving more detection and storage on-device rather than relying entirely on the cloud — a detail we cover in our wider EZVIZ IFA 2026 lineup roundup.
The triple-lens design is aimed at open-plan living rooms and kitchen-diners, a common UK floor plan where a single fixed lens often misses a corner. EZVIZ paired the camera with new smart entry products and AI CoreX, its local AI processing unit.
UK pricing and stock dates were not confirmed at the show, so this is not yet available in the UK.
6. SwitchBot Lock Ultra Max Vision Pro Combo — best retrofit smart lock
SwitchBot's newest retrofit lock, shown at IFA 2026, fits over an existing cylinder without drilling or a full lock replacement, adding face and palm recognition alongside its existing keypad and app unlock methods. We've published full UK pricing and specs in our SwitchBot Lock Ultra Max Vision Pro Combo review.
Unlike most of the picks above, this one already has a confirmed UK listing, making it the most immediately actionable product in this roundup for anyone renting or unwilling to swap their existing lock body.
Robot vacuums and cleaning
Beyond the two new steam-and-mop launches above, several already-announced cleaning products rounded out IFA 2026. Ecovacs brought the Deebot X12S OmniCyclone, its latest flagship vacuum-mop hybrid, plus a dedicated WINBOT window-cleaning robot. Roborock showed a wider lineup spanning a robot mower, pool-cleaning bot and stair-climbing vacuum. Dyson used the show for its Nurovi robot vacuum and HushJet air purifier lineup, and Tineco brought 230°C steam mops and a self-sealing vacuum dock. Miele's angle was different again: an AI-camera dishwasher, the G8 Diamond AutoVision, that checks load quality before a cycle starts.
Shop related robot vacuum and cleaning products available now in the UK (from Ecovacs and Roborock, not the specific new IFA models above):
Roborock Saros 10R
View on Amazon UK
Ecovacs Deebot X11 OmniCyclone
View on Amazon UKSecurity and cameras
Security was one of the busiest categories at the show. Eufy expanded its lineup with a doorbell, window camera, vacuum and robot mower, plus a dedicated NVR security system with a fall-detection sensor aimed at elderly-care use cases. Reolink showed a wider refresh across its camera, tracking and home-hub range. Shelly, better known for its Home Assistant-friendly relays, launched its first subscription-free security camera. DJI took a different approach entirely with the ROMO 2, a robot vacuum built around a physical privacy switch rather than a camera feature.
Shop related security and camera products available now in the UK (current lineup from eufy and Reolink, not the specific new IFA models above):
eufy Video Doorbell E340
View on Amazon UK
Reolink Argus 4 Pro (with Solar Panel)
View on Amazon UK7. Shelly Plus Plug UK — best power-user Wi-Fi smart plug
Not a new IFA 2026 launch, but a natural companion pick alongside Shelly's subscription-free camera announcement above for anyone building out a Home Assistant-friendly setup. HA's core shelly integration talks to it locally and push-updates instantly, with a proper 13A/3000W rating and precise power metering.
The spec that matters: standby draw is under 1W, and its local RPC API keeps automations running even if the internet drops — on-device scripting can enforce power limits without Home Assistant in the loop at all.
The catch: at roughly double the price of a basic Wi-Fi plug like a Tapo P110, it only earns that premium if local reliability and metering accuracy matter more than upfront cost.
Lighting
Lighting announcements leaned heavily on Matter and AI-generated scenes. Govee's Sky ceiling light, COB Strip 2 Pro and Outdoor Lights 2 Pro all launched at the show, alongside its AI Lighting Bot 2.0 feature that turns natural-language prompts into lighting scenes. Aqara brought a new Matter-certified smart lighting range, and Philips Hue used IFA for its own Screen Sync Camera and wider lighting refresh, plus a Nanoleaf tie-in.
Shop related lighting products available now in the UK (current lineup from Govee and Philips Hue, not the specific new IFA models above):
Govee RGBIC LED Strip Light H619A (5 m)
View on Amazon UK
Philips Hue White & Colour Ambiance A60 E27
View on Amazon UKHubs and AI ecosystems
Local-AI hubs were arguably the defining theme of IFA 2026's smart home hall. Beyond Anker MindBase above, Ugreen showed its own HomeAgent local-AI hub, and SONOFF launched OpenEdge, a local smart home platform aimed at Home Assistant power users. Samsung pushed further into ambient AI with SmartThings Spatial AI, using room-mapping to inform automations. LG's ThinQ Claw is a conversational AI home agent baked into its appliance range, while Hisense showed Companion Living, an AI home-vision concept. ThirdReality had its own booth for the first time, debuting Matter over Thread and Zigbee devices alongside its HelpLink Smart Care platform, and Hama went Matter-first across its ecosystem.
8. Aqara Hub M3 — best for expanding Zigbee/Matter coverage
Aqara's M3 is an established hub, not a new IFA 2026 announcement, but it's a genuinely useful pickup for anyone reading this roundup because it's already sitting on UK shelves while the concept hubs above are still TBC. It bridges a drawer full of Aqara Zigbee sensors into Home Assistant locally over Matter, or via HomeKit's homekit_controller, and doubles as a Thread border router for other Matter kit.
The spec that matters: it only talks to its own Aqara devices, not a general-purpose ZHA/Zigbee2MQTT coordinator, so it's a fit for Aqara-committed households rather than a mixed-brand Zigbee network. Setup still needs an Aqara account and app, even though day-to-day bridging then runs locally.
The catch is price relative to a bare radio: at £109.99 it costs more than a dongle-only route like Home Assistant's own Connect ZBT-2, and it only earns that premium if the Aqara ecosystem lock-in already suits your setup.
9. SONOFF Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus (ZBDongle-E) — best budget Zigbee coordinator
Also not a new launch from the show, but worth flagging here alongside SONOFF's OpenEdge announcement above: the ZBDongle-E is the best-value Zigbee coordinator sold in the UK, coming in at well under £20 and working out of the box with both ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT.
The spec that matters: it's built on a Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 with +20dBm output and ships pre-flashed with EZSP coordinator firmware, so there's no manual flashing step before it starts finding devices.
The catch: Sonoff doesn't bundle a USB extension cable in the box, and the external SMA antenna is worth moving off a cheap USB-A extension lead to get it clear of a PC or NAS case for better range.
10. SONOFF MINIR4 (MINI Extreme) — best cheap behind-the-switch relay
Another established SONOFF product worth pairing with the OpenEdge news above, if a behind-the-wall-switch relay is what you actually need today. It's the cheapest way into smart-switch retrofits, with detach-relay mode that keeps a dumb wall switch usable alongside smart bulbs.
The spec that matters: it needs a neutral wire, and there's no official Home Assistant integration — you're relying on the community AlexxIT SonoffLAN HACS integration talking to eWeLink's LAN mode rather than anything SONOFF supports directly.
The catch: if avoiding that HACS dependency matters more than saving a few pounds, the Matter-native MINIR4M variant pairs natively with no custom integration required.
Appliances and other launches
Haier's Home of Intelligent Possibilities showcase tied its appliance range together under one AI umbrella, and Xiaomi used the show for a large-scale European launch of its Mijia ecosystem. DOOGEE, a rugged-phone brand, made its first smart home push with Home Life. Amada showed an unusual pairing of app-controlled beds and a sofa with a built-in fridge, and SONOFF separately expanded its TRV, thermostat and camera lineup.
What else was announced?
A few launches sit outside our main picks but are worth flagging. iRobot demonstrated a Roomba Duo concept that uses two coordinated robots to clean one home simultaneously — described as a concept rather than a shipping product, with no confirmed release window[1]. Narwal also previewed two wet/dry vacuums slated for a 2027 European launch, alongside the Freo 20 Edge covered above[2]. Dreame's booth extended beyond the Aqua20 into an action camera and an all-wheel-drive robot lawnmower, part of a broader push into outdoor robotics[3].
Two later additions worth knowing about: Midea showed a whole-home AI ecosystem with live robot demos, and Samsung and LG picked up 11 IFA Innovation Awards between them — see our IFA 2026 Innovation Awards roundup for both.Is any of this available in the UK yet?
Almost none of it, as of early September 2026. The SwitchBot Lock Ultra Max Vision Pro Combo is the one product in this roundup with a confirmed UK retail listing; everything else — Anker MindBase, the Narwal and Dreame vacuums, Heiman's NFC sensor and EZVIZ's H90f camera among them — was shown with US or EU pricing only, or no pricing at all. Manufacturers typically confirm UK availability and pricing in the weeks following IFA, so treat anything not already sold by a UK retailer as provisional.
Does any of this actually work with Home Assistant?
Some of it, with caveats. Anker MindBase and SONOFF OpenEdge are both built with Matter and local-processing compatibility as a headline feature, which should translate into reasonable Home Assistant support once they ship. Products certified for Matter — including Heiman's new sensor line and Aqara's lighting range — should integrate via Home Assistant's built-in Matter support out of the box. Cloud-first products from brands like Hisense or Haier are less predictable; their smart home ecosystems tend to prioritise their own apps first, with Home Assistant integration (if any) arriving later via community-built integrations rather than official support at launch.
