IFA 2025: The Shenzhen startup's latest exoskeleton promises to reduce hiking effort with its training modes
There’s a truly bizarre sensation that comes from having your own legs powered by an external force. Hiking up the hills near Teufelsberg on the outskirts of Berlin, I could feel a distinct push on my quads and a thrust forward at my hips with every step.
This is the Hypershell X Ultra, an $1,999 exoskeleton that feels less like a product of today and more like a dispatch from the next decade. It’s one of the most genuinely fascinating wearables I’ve ever tested.
Announced today at IFA 2025 and available globally from today, 7 September, the X Ultra is the new flagship model from the Shenzhen-based startup, sitting above its existing Pro and Go models.
The company’s mission is to democratize exoskeleton technology. And, for the first time, its performance claims have also been independently certified by industry leader SGS, adding a layer of credibility to its bold promises.
Serious hardware now backs up those promises, too. At its core, an ‘AI MotionEngine Ultra’ uses over a dozen sensors to adapt to your movement in real-time, powering two M-One Ultra Motors that can generate up to 1000 watts of power.
Hypershell claims this translates to a 20% reduction in physical exertion when walking and a remarkable 63% increase in hip flexor endurance.
The battery life has also seen a monumental leap, now offering a range of up to 60km (if you burn through the two included batteries)—a massive improvement on the previous generation. And you can still achieve around 10km even if you exclusively use the device’s most powerful Hyper Mode.
It also introduces new intelligent modes for specific activities, including Running+, Cycling+, and even modes for snow and sand, with users able to control it all via a new Apple Watch app.
Going through the gears: First impressions of the X Ultra
After spending a few hours with the exoskeleton strapped on, what’s perhaps most remarkable is how polished the whole experience feels.
In a field where you expect early-stage niggles, the setup was seamless—app pairing was instant (once my phone found a cellular connection), the onboarding tutorial was engaging and without latency, and the assistance from the motors instantly felt incredibly smooth and intuitive.
Sure, there’s a bit of fiddling involved with strapping it on and achieving a lockdown fit around your lower back (where the battery sits and the harness width can be adjusted) and above the knees. Still, it’s also a process that I see becoming second nature once you’ve established your optimal fit.
The more power you dial in via the app or side-mounted control panel, the more dramatic the assistance becomes. Yet, it never felt jerky when going through the gears—a double-tap to up the intensity of each mode (the chilled-out ‘Eco’ or more powerful ‘Hyper), or a triple-tap to decrease it.
After a while of relying on these boosted modes up the hills, I flicked it onto ‘Transparent’, which turns the assistance off.
The effect was immediate; my legs suddenly felt heavy and alien, as if I’d forgotten how to use them properly—a testament to just how much work the 1.8kg device had been doing without me realizing. This is truly like the equivalent of having an e-bike for your legs.
Who is the Hypershell X Ultra for?
While I wouldn’t say I’m the kind of user who could get the most out of an exoskeleton, it doesn’t take long to figure out who could benefit.
My father-in-law, for example, who loves to hike but struggles with arthritis and old injuries, would be a perfect user. There were also plenty of German passers-by who stopped me to ask about what the device was, joking that they could do with it for the same reasons.
The X Ultra doesn’t solve immobility entirely, and you do still require a certain amount of your own strength for isometric balance and push-off.
However, it does provide a powerful boost that keeps your legs fresher for longer, enabling people to tackle that extra hill or go that extra few miles. In that sense, at least, there’s something for everybody.
The potential fitness benefits
What perhaps surprised me most, however, was that there’s still potential for fitness applications for runners (both trail and road) and cyclists.
The X Ultra features five new intelligent modes, including Descent Assist for greater knee protection on downhills, Cycling+ with dynamic torque assist for enhanced performance on the bike, Running+ for a boost while sprinting, Dune for superior stability on sandy surfaces, and Snow offering assistance when walking through powder.
There’s also the ‘Fitness Mode’, which provides active resistance, and I can see the accompanying ‘Iso’ setting (which adds even more resistance for when you’re idle) being a genuinely useful tool for pre-run warm-ups, potentially replacing the resistance bands I use for activation exercises.
Even the standard ‘Eco Mode’ could be a game-changer for my own training; the gentle boost would be perfect for recovery runs when my legs are fatigued, helping me keep my heart rate in the right low-intensity zone.
The Hypershell X Ultra is undoubtedly a head-turner, and you’ll have to be comfortable with the stares that come with being an early adopter of such futuristic tech. But my initial impression, ahead of a full in-depth review landing soon, is that this is a remarkably mature and innovative wearable that delivers on its mind-bending promise.
