If you can't stand the heat — get out of this kitchen.

When you look at YouTube and Instagram, you will see clips from hi-fi influencers and Michael Fremer telling you how full and successful HighEnd Vienna was. And you will see crowds in the entry hall of the trade show. The organizers projected 22,000 visitors. But is this real? Is HighEnd Vienna 2026 a success story? Some participants say yes, some say no.

What a week. Every morning we woke up with a gazillion posts on LinkedIn, Medium, and Substack addressing the implications of ChatGPT-4o, Gemini 1.5, and Project Astra on jobs, business models, and the way we are going to use the web soon. So let's have a look into the future.