Iqos

Line of products

Iqos (/ˈaɪkoʊs/ EYE-kohs, stylized as IQOS) is a line of heated tobacco and electronic cigarette products manufactured by Philip Morris International (PMI). It was first introduced in November 2014 with the launch of the Iqos tobacco heating device in Japan and Italy, before being gradually commercialized in other countries. Alongside Iqos-branded electronic cigarettes, a large segment of the portfolio focuses on devices that heat tobacco without burning it. The long-term health benefits of heated tobacco compared to burnt tobacco are yet to be demonstrated, with the idea that the product could at any point be less harmful than cigarettes still being debated among the scientific community. The tobacco-heating devices have undergone various technological changes over the years with the release of different versions: "Iqos 2.2" (2014), "Iqos 2.4" (2016), "Iqos 3" (2018), "Iqos 3 Duo" (2019) and "Iqos Iluma" (2021). Licensing agreements with other tobacco manufacturers are also in place, such as KT&G's lil device, now commercialized by PMI outside of Korea. Since 2016, Iqos has been the flagship smoke-free product of Philip Morris International, whose communication is now entirely geared towards a "smoke-free future". As of 2021, sales of Iqos and other smoke-free products account for a little under 30% of the tobacco giant's global revenue, up from 20% in 2019. In 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized PMI to sell Iqos in the United States as a modified-risk tobacco product (MRTP) with a "reduced exposure" claim that Iqos reduces exposure to harmful chemicals, but refused Philip Morris the ability to make any claim that switching from cigarettes to Iqos reduces the user's risk of disease. The decision to allow for reduced exposure claims was criticized by the World Health Organization as misleading to consumers. From Wikipedia