Best of IFA 2024: best business laptops, phones and gadgets

It’s been a long week. One that kicked off with Intel’s “Lunar Lake” launch and was soon followed by Lenovo’s avalanche of innovative products. Not to mention Honor’s worldwide release of the Magic V3, the world’s slimmest folding phone, and Qualcomm’s launch of the 8-core Snapdragon X Plus.

And all this before IFA 2024 actually opened its doors proper on Friday morning. Yesterday, I walked the show halls, trying to make sure that nothing had missed TechFinitive’s attention. The end result of this most intense of weeks is this list. Meet the best of IFA 2024, particularly from a business-changing point of view.

Best business laptops IFA 2024

Acer TravelMate P6 14 AI

If you’re looking for a sub-1kg laptop that can do it all, allow me to introduce the TravelMate P6 14 AI. The first hint of its specialness comes from the Carbon Fibre detail on the lid, but I also love how you can tell the NPU inside its Core Ultra 200V chip is working because a pattern flashes on the touchpad.

From my short time with the P6, I can tell you that it seems to deliver in all the areas of quality: that is, build, keyboard and display. The final question will be down to price, but I expect this laptop to undercut its arch rival, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon below, when it arrives in the autumn.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 13th Gen Aura Edition

Lenovo and Intel worked closely on this latest update of its legendary X1 Carbon business laptop. Naturally it includes Intel’s latest Core Ultra processor, but there’s also the Lenovo-exclusive Aura Edition software that makes it simplicity itself to share files with your phone: tap it on the side of the X1 Carbon’s lid and the phone’s gallery appears on your screen. Read our full breakdown of Aura Edition for more.

Beyond that, you have everything we’ve always loved about the X1 Carbon. An amazingly compact chassis, brilliant keyboard and screen, carbon fibre construction to keep the weight at around 1kg. And now staggering real-world battery life too.

Prices are expected to start at €2,699 exc VAT in Europe, with “limited availability in the UK, Germany, France, Nordics and Switzerland” from November 2024.

Honor MagicBook Art 14 (Qualcomm edition)

I’ve already written my review of the Honor MagicBook Art 14, which was announced at IFA 2024. It’s a superb laptop, once again weighing under 1kg, and I love its soft-touch metal finish, its detachable camera and its all-round build quality. It is a laptop that will gain many admiring glances.

But I confess that I’m holding out for the Qualcomm edition when it arrives in November, because that will trump the existing machine – with its first-generation Core Ultra chips – for battery life and for all-round speed.

Best processor of IFA 2024

We all knew that IFA 2024 would see the debut of Intel’s Lunar Lake processors. For the first time for Intel, these include NPUs that meet Microsoft’s 40 TOPS minimum for Copilot+ PCs, which is why IFA saw a slew of Copilot+ PCs being announced. Asus, Dell, MSI and Samsung all announced new laptops supporting this AI-enhanced version of Windows 11.

I go into great depth on the new Intel Core Ultra 200V family in a separate article, so here will simply say that these eight-core processors look set to deliver battery life only previously seen on Arm silicon (such as Qualcomm’s 8-core Snapdragon). Laptops will go on sale from 24 September and most are available for pre-order now.

Best phones of IFA 2024

While Mobile World Congress is where most phone makers give debuts to their creations, Honor and HMC both announced striking new devices at IFA 2024.

Honor Magic V3

Because I attended an Honor pre-briefing, I was lucky enough to gain early access to the Magic V3 phone. That’s why I published my full Honor Magic V3 phone review a couple of days ago.

All you really need to know is that this stylish phone is the slimmest on the market by some distance, and arguably packs the best camera too. Early discounts to its price make it all the more tempting, and it’s available for pre-order now.

TCL 50 Pro Nxtpaper 5G

I’ve always liked TCL’s Nxtpaper technology, which gives your eyes a break thanks to a matte display that can switch from colour to mono for a paper-like read.

With the 50 Pro, TCL has made it even easier to switch thanks to a button on the right-hand side that activates this mode in an instant. It also cuts off social media apps notifications, so you can focus.

This 6.8in screen, complete with 120Hz refresh rate, is definitely the star of the show, but a low price of £280 in the UK (it will also go on sale in the EU and Latin America) only adds to its appeal.

HMD Fusion

The HMD Fusion is the only item on this list that I didn’t get my hands on at the show, but I include it because HMD (which formally released phones under the Nokia brand) puts sustainability at this phone’s heart. And as regular readers will know, we’re keen on this at TechFinitive!

Not only does HMD make it easy to repair items such as the battery and screen, it has also pledged to offer spare parts via iFixit until 2031. And it’s even “modular”, as you attach covers that add features via smart pins – think ring lights, game controllers and wireless charging.

The rest of the phone isn’t so special, with a Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 chipset some way behind the times, but at least you can upgrade the storage via a microSD card slot. And the price is competitive, starting at €249 in Europe (a US release will follow).

Best translation device at IFA 2024

Timekettle W4 Pro AI Interpreter Earbuds

Our final award goes to the Timekettle W4 Pro. We’ve been following this brand for some time, as it aims to bring real-time translation to every aspect of our lives, and we think its latest product may bring it into the mainstream. Its key ingredient, obviously, being AI.

If two people are wearing these buds, which are designed to fit around one ear, they can speak in different languages with real-time translation sent to their respective buds. Although by real-time we mean a delay of two to three seconds. It’s like having a translator whisper into your ear.

You can also use it to listen (and parse) speech in meetings, whether in-person or remotely. And naturally it works when you’re watching videos online too.

The W4 Pro AI Interpreter Earbuds are now on sale, costing $449.