ITALY. Philip Morris International (PMI) has unveiled a partnership between its tobacco heating system IQOS and French acoustic engineering specialist Devialet at Milan Design Week (20-26 April).
The Moodie Davitt Report Brands Director Hannah Tan was on location as the collaboration was revealed through an immersive installation called ‘Soundsorial Design’. The multi-sensory exhibition, debuting today (20 April), marked the IQOS x Devialet device’s world premiere.
Only 3,000 IQOS x Devialet devices have been produced for 2026. While the product is not yet available for purchase in 2026, it can be won through the IQOS Club in the domestic market or IQOS Global Travel Retail programme. In travel retail, it will be exclusively showcased at Incheon International Airport from June.
Positioned at the intersection of sound, design and technology, the Milan Design Week installation explored how audio can be translated into a multi-sensory experience.
The exclusive set combines the IQOS ILUMA i device with Devialet Gemini II wireless earbuds, presented as a limited-edition offering. The initiative highlights PMI Global Travel Retail’s focus on leveraging design-led partnerships to elevate its smoke-free portfolio.
PMI said the collaboration underscores its strategy of introducing smoke-free innovations for adult smokers in key travel retail locations; particularly in innovation and experience-driven markets such as South Korea.
The company added that travel retail plays a critical role in building awareness and understanding of smoke-free alternatives, supported by integrated, multi-category retail touchpoints.
PMI President Heat‑Not‑Burn/IQOS Oggie Kapetanovic commented: “In both houses, design is deeply functional and innovation is the foundation. Patents, products and peer standards are the evidence. United by a relentless commitment to push innovation boundaries, Devialet and IQOS challenge the status quo while redefining the experiences of tomorrow.”
Devialet Chief Executive Officer Jacques Demont added: “Driven by a shared ambition to disrupt industry conventions, Devialet and IQOS have designed a truly soundsorial experience for this exhibition.
“By bringing Devialet’s savoir‑faire to the space, sound becomes a physical presence that completes the journey – embodied by the iconic design and performance of the Devialet Phantom Ultimate speaker.”
Innovation, excellence and mastery During the media event, PMI President Heat-Not-Burn/IQOS Oggie Kapetanovic underlined how a shared obsession with excellence, precision and innovation drove the collaboration between IQOS and Devialet. IQOS and Devialet are built around a simple idea: if you put something in people’s hands, it has to be worth holding and using. The synergy between our companies comes down to a shared commitment to excellence. In fact, ‘resolute’ isn’t strong enough, we are obsessive about it. We challenge each other and are willing to take the longer route to get things right. That mindset is essential to building an iconic brand. And by iconic, I don’t mean being everywhere – many brands achieve that. I mean being unmistakable. Our partners help raise the bar. They bring a strong point of view, a willingness to push boundaries and a refusal to compromise. That’s also reflected in how we approach technology: a human-centric lens applied to advanced engineering, grounded in discipline and scientific rigour. There’s significant investment behind it: years of work, huge investment, thousands of patents. However, this isn’t about showcasing numbers. It’s about recognising the level of effort required to achieve excellence. True simplicity requires mastery. Without mastery, you don’t achieve simplicity and without simplicity, you don’t achieve excellence.  When we came to Milan, we didn’t want to create something loud. We wanted to be precise. This city is defined by precision, and that inspired the ‘Soundsorial Design’ concept. It is an ambitious idea exploring how sound and space interact, and what happens when sound is treated as a design material. What matters is what this represents: two brands united by precision and innovation, trusting that people will feel the difference. At the end of the day, this is about people. We exist to offer better alternatives to those who would otherwise smoke. Innovation isn’t just something you create; it has to become part of people’s lives and choices. That’s the journey we’re on. It’s demanding work, but it’s also deeply rewarding because it reflects who we are as a brand. Beyond excellence, we talk about education, culture and what it takes for brands to become part of the cultural zeitgeist: being in the right places, with the right energy, for the right reasons. That’s why we collaborate across different brands, from technology to design. Despite their differences, the common thread is creating meaningful experiences that people genuinely want to engage with. And at the heart of it all is curiosity, the willingness to ask ‘what if?’. What if we try another iteration? Another partnership? Another idea we hadn’t considered before? Moments like this remind us to keep raising the bar, not just for our partners, but for the experiences we create and the care we put into every detail. This isn’t just about building a brand; it’s about enabling meaningful change.
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During the event, PMI Global Head of Brand Marketing for IQOS Alina Igritskaya sat down with The Moodie Davitt Report to talk about how the brand’s collaboration with Devialet brings shared values of precision, design and experience to life through ‘Soundsorial design’.
Igritskaya also highlighted the strategic role of partnerships in engaging adult smokers through culturally relevant, experience-led storytelling.
At the heart of the IQOS x Devialet collaboration lies a meeting of minds, PMI Global Head of Marketing for IQOS Alina Igritskaya says. “Brand collaborations must be built on shared values. That’s how we approach every partnership, and with IQOS we’ve developed many over time. With Devialet, we discovered even more common ground than we initially expected,” she says.
“At the core is a shared commitment to elevating everyday moments. Not through technology for its own sake, but by creating richer, more meaningful experiences. Precision is also fundamental to both brands, whether in sound engineering or in the development of heated tobacco products.
“Finally, design aesthetics play a critical role for us both.”
Igritskaya adds: “These principles formed the foundation of the collaboration. We asked ourselves how to translate these shared values into an experiential concept. That became the starting point of the creative journey.
“The idea of ‘Soundsorial’ emerged where sound represents Devialet’s expertise, and sensorial expression reflects the IQOS experience. This evolved into ‘soundsorial design’, moving sound beyond hearing into a tangible design language.
“The capsule collection was a natural outcome of this creative dialogue, rather than the starting point.”
According to Igritskaya, turning an intangible idea into something consumers can hold required bridging two very different design worlds. “Bringing sound into a physical IQOS device was a unique challenge,” she explains. “The goal was to unite two distinct product disciplines under a single design idea.
“From the outset, we focused on creating an experiential concept; one where audiences could engage in their own personal journeys, as seen in the exhibition.
“This experience generated a distinct aesthetic language, movement, light and fluidity, which was then translated into design elements applied across both the IQOS device and Devialet earbuds.
“The result is a shared visual identity that expresses the fluidity of sound across two fundamentally different products.”
Beyond the spectacle of Milan, the ambition is to ensure the concept lives on in consumer touchpoints across different channels. Igritskaya says: “While the Milan installation is large-scale, the technologies developed for it can be adapted into smaller formats. That is central to our approach.
“We aim to bring this experience into more compact retail environments, including our brand stores and global travel retail, a very important channel for us. This allows us to scale the concept while maintaining consistency in how the brand is expressed across different touchpoints.”
The launch forms part of PMI’s wider ambition to accelerate the shift away from combustible cigarettes, using experiential environments such as travel retail to engage adult consumers and encourage informed choices.
According to Igritskaya, collaborations are not just creative exercises but strategic tools for driving relevance and reach. She says: “Brand collaborations are a powerful way to amplify our voice. Building an aspirational, experience-led global brand requires participation in cultural exchange, and that means working with partners to create distinctive, meaningful outputs.
“Through these collaborations, we can engage adult smokers in a more relevant and compelling way.”
When asked about how IQOS finds the right brands to partner with, Igritskaya says it’s all about curiosity.
“Curiosity is the starting point for every collaboration,” she comments. “It drives us to explore new perspectives, challenge conventions and develop fresh ideas.
“However, true innovation comes from working with partners. Each collaborator brings a distinct voice, which ensures that every project is different and leads to unexpected outcomes. That unpredictability is intentional and essential to our approach.”
Looking ahead, Igritskaya says: “We are always thinking about what comes next, although I can’t share specifics at this stage. Expanding our collaboration footprint remains a priority, both globally and locally.
“Each partnership contributes incrementally to our broader vision and helps us connect with adult smokers who are naturally drawn to these kinds of experiences.” ✈
