Siemens Ovens Skip AI While Chinese Appliances Race to Add It
Siemens and Bosch keep AI out of new appliances, while Skyworth has integrated Gemini into TVs and Haier made refrigerators automatically link to supermarkets—at the same show, two competing philosophies on AI adoption speed collided.
The argument · tap a timestamp to hear it
Exoskeletons will halve in price, size, and weight within two years
Extribot's exoskeletons currently sell for around 2,500 euros in Europe, weigh three kilograms, and offer over 20 kilometers of battery range—still at a stage where they cannot yet become universally accessible. But the company has set explicit timelines: within one to two years, they plan to cut size by half, weight by half, and price by half. This means a technology confined to military and medical domains for two or three decades is now iterating at consumer-electronics speed.
— Ji Qu brand representativeWinning globally requires choosing depth in one category over breadth
Jigu spent ten years making only handheld fans and now sells in over 100 countries, with more than 70 million units shipped. The Jigu Live series alone pulls over 1 billion in annual sales. The founding team deliberately refused to expand horizontally into new categories, instead pushing one market segment to perfection. They emphasize that getting products to market and becoming a true global brand are different things. That gap is whether repeat customers exist, whether they think of you on the second purchase, whether they would recommend you to others.
— Summer (Ji Shu brand manager)Wearable AI wins by understanding context, not transcribing speech
Mamacat, founded by a former Anker CMO, makes an AI memory device worn on the wrist, coexisting with your Apple Watch and intentionally distancing itself from the recording-app market. The founder emphasizes they are not a recording company or a meeting-summary tool—they are building continuous memory by linking scattered conversations and meetings. That is why they open-sourced a model: to help the system understand how same-topic content gets classified, connected, and evolves, sparing users the work of reconstructing and organizing threads themselves.
— Mamacat founderReal-time translation belongs in earpieces, not on eyeglasses
As AI glasses increasingly pitch translation as a headline feature, Timekettle's founder disagrees: glasses offer one-directional, visual speed, which breaks the natural back-and-forth of ear-to-ear conversation. Translation as an AI glasses feature treats it like a selling point rather than a function built from how people actually talk. Germany, Timekettle's strongest European market, has 2 million migrants among 8 million residents—inherent demand for cross-language conversation was built into the region's needs.
— Leo (Shi Kong Hu founder)The television category is being redefined as 'smart display'
Skyworth became the first brand globally to integrate Gemini into a TV. The CEO identifies three reasons users embrace it: traditional remotes are clunky—voice is faster; Google's ecosystem means you pull content straight from YouTube without watching the full film; the TV occupies the living room's prime real estate, positioned to work with cameras and other smart-home devices. Future products, he predicts, will be renamed—no longer "TV" but Smart Display or AI Display instead. The main focus right now is moving AI integration further down-market.
— Chuang Wei CEOGerman appliance makers chose tradition while China chose AI as default
At the same show, Siemens' new appliances contain no AI. The brand confirmed this was a choice, not a capability gap. Bosch's booth showed traditional washers and dishwashers with no AI concept in sight. By contrast, Chinese brands treat AI as baseline: Haier's vision spans the full lifecycle—buying food, managing inventory, controlling other appliances, linking to local supermarkets to proactively suggest restocking. Passive reaction to commands versus active prediction: two fundamentally different product philosophies facing each other.
Global consumer electronics has entered the Chinese manufacturing cycle
The IFA CEO made an observation: consumer electronics has progressed through the Sony-led Japan cycle, the Samsung-led Korea cycle, and now enters the China cycle. Evidence appeared beyond the conference floor: a German server working a coffee bar nearby mentioned owning a Roborock robot vacuum and being very satisfied. It echoed a pattern the host observed throughout: Chinese brands are shifting from followers to category definers.
— Wang Qin WenIn their own words · checked verbatim
We believe humanity's civilizational evolution is fundamentally a history of tool evolution. The exoskeleton helps humans transcend the boundaries of their physical capabilities, enabling us to explore the universe more fully.
我们认为人类的文明进化史 其实是一个工具的进化史 外骨骼就是帮助人类 去提升自己体能的一个边界 更好的去探索这个宇宙
Ji Qu brand representative5:07
But another strategic path is to dominate one category completely. We found that in the handheld-fan market, significant unmet customer needs still exist.
但是另外一种战略选择是 我把一个赛道做到极致 因为我们仍然发现在 小风扇的这个领域里面 有一些需求它仍然未被满足
Summer13:11
The real divide is whether customers will repurchase and recognize your brand. The first time, someone might pick your product. Building a brand is whether the second time they repurchase, they still think of you.
我觉得中间的鸿沟 是消费者愿不愿意复购你和认知你 我第一次的时候 我可能会因为这个产品而选择喜欢你 卖品牌是我在第二次的复购的时候 我会不会想起你
Summer14:11
First, at the company level: we're not a recording company. We're a context company. We're not just summarizing meetings.
首先是在公司层面 我们不是做一个录音的公司 我们是做一个上下文的公司 我们不只是做一个会议的总结
Mamacat founder23:16
He said, 'I don't want to be a translator anymore. I want your product to translate for me.' I was intrigued, so I kept talking with him for a long time.
他说我不想当翻译了 我想拿你这个产品来去替我做翻译 我也挺好奇 我又在那跟他聊了很久
Leo27:17
Because normal conversation still happens through speaking and listening between two people. So naturally speaking, it doesn't align with how humans actually communicate.
因为正常交流你还是用耳朵去两个人说话 所以从天然的角度来看 它并不符合人类的这种自然交流的习惯
Leo27:17
In the future, we probably can't call it a television anymore. It's a Smart Display, or an AI Display.
将来可能我们不能再叫它电视 OK 这是一个Smart Display 或者AI的Display
Chuang Wei CEO37:31
Global consumer electronics went through the Sony-led Japan cycle, the Samsung-led Korea cycle, and has now entered the China cycle.
全球消費電子經歷了索尼引領的日本週期 三星引領的韓國週期 如今已經進入中國週期
Wang Qin Wen43:41
Figures
| Extribot exoskeleton, Europe price | 2,500 euros | 4:07 |
| Extribot exoskeleton, projected reduction within 1–2 years | 50% reduction in volume, weight, and price each | 5:07 |
| Jigu Live annual sales | Over 1 billion yuan | 13:11 |
| Anker UV printer, Europe original price | 2,399 euros (includes machine and one set of ink) | 21:14 |
| Haver Air Versa price and flight time | 739 euros; 14 minutes flight / 180 minutes handheld | 35:30 |
| Zoose sleep earphones price | $350 | 17:14 |
Glossary
- IFA
- Berlin International Electronics Consumer Expo—Europe's largest consumer electronics show, held annually in Berlin each September
- Kite Model
- Open-source classification system developed by Mamacat to identify how content on the same topic is grouped, connected, and evolves
How to listen
Hardware entrepreneurs and consumer electronics startups going global, or anyone tracking how Chinese brands are becoming category leaders—seeking to understand how specific product lines evolve from selling goods to building brands.
19:00-20:14: The massage-chair interview has severe transcription damage and can be skipped.