CityCube Berlin buzzes with Chinese mobility brands
Samsung Electronics holds solo exhibition outside Messe Berlin for first time since 1991
Dreame-affiliated NAVEE, EV maker Xpeng set up large booths
AMD joins Retail Innovation Zone
Samsung Electronics changed its exhibition strategy ahead of IFA 2026, Europe's largest consumer electronics fair, held this year in Berlin. The company had long occupied CityCube Berlin — the largest standalone hall at Messe Berlin — entirely on its own, but this year set up a dedicated exhibition space at Humboldt Carré, a convention center in central Berlin. Competition for CityCube Berlin is fierce given its status as a freestanding building.
Dozens of companies moved in to fill the space Samsung Electronics left behind. Chinese mobility firms including NAVEE and Xpeng claimed large booths, reflecting the growing presence of Chinese companies on the IFA exhibition floor.
When IFA 2026 opened Friday, CityCube Berlin was organized around two themes: "Mobility" and the "Retail Innovation Zone."
Samsung Electronics first participated in IFA in 1991 with a 43-square-meter booth and has occupied CityCube Berlin exclusively since 2014. Until last year, its booth alone spanned 6,000 square meters — the largest of any exhibitor at the fair.
This year, however, the company relocated to Humboldt Carré in downtown Berlin to provide closer, dedicated service to its business-to-business customers, leaving the vast hall empty. Chinese companies stepped in to fill it.
The largest booth at CityCube Berlin belonged to NAVEE, a Chinese electric scooter company founded in 2021 that has attended IFA since its early days and expanded its exhibition footprint this year. The booth displayed the Dreame name alongside NAVEE's own, signaling that the brand is part of the Dreame ecosystem.
Chinese electric vehicle brand Xpeng also mounted a large display featuring its electric vehicles and flying cars. Founded in Guangzhou, Xpeng is widely regarded as a leader in urban air mobility technology in China, and the booth drew crowds of visitors eager to see its EVs and flying cars up close.
AMD, widely known as an AI chipmaker, set up a booth in the Retail Innovation Zone. IFA organizers have been actively courting AI companies in a bid to diversify the fair's traditionally home-appliance-focused exhibition space. AMD also delivered a keynote address Friday on the theme "The Era of Personal AI."
The booth itself, however, leaned more toward gaming than AI, with the company primarily showcasing PCs powered by AMD central processing units.
Beyond those exhibitors, the Retail Innovation Zone devoted considerable space to business-to-business meeting areas, leaving the hall feeling somewhat sparse compared with previous years.
"AMD is well known as an AI company, but we have also built deep expertise in gaming over many years," an AMD representative said. "AMD chips power consoles like Xbox and PlayStation, and we want to introduce that side of our work here."
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics has not left Messe Berlin entirely. As the main sponsor of the IFA Creator Hub, the company is running a "Samsung AI Escape Room" experience designed to draw in visitors. The Korean-themed space lets attendees try out Samsung Electronics' AI features firsthand.
![The Samsung Electronics exhibition at CityCube Berlin during IFA 2025 last year. [Provided by Samsung Electronics]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/09/05/news-p.v1.20260905.5d0268e9cf9648429e8c810c3f0a2af7_P1.jpg)
jeongwan@heraldcorp.com
