IQOS 3 and IQOS 3 MULTI are now sold in cities in 43 markets around the world. IQOS parent company, Philip Morris International, spends 92% of all R&D and 60% of all commercial expenditure on smoke-free products. 

IQOS next generation device, the pioneering 2.4 PLUS, is launched in 21 markets. A year later, it is available to adult customers in 38 markets. In 2017 it wins a GOOD DESIGN® Award from the annual presentations made by the Chicago Athenaeum [Museum of Architecture and Design] and Metropolitan Arts Press. ​

PMI’s first commercial heat-not-burn device is launched in Japan and Italy. A year later the product is named IQOS and is made available in Portugal, Romania, Russia and Switzerland. ​

PMI expands its R&D facilities focusing on alternatives to cigarettes by opening a new research laboratory in Singapore. Today, over 400 R&D experts are working on IQOS technologies around the world.​

Forward strides into smoke-free alternatives to cigarettes, soon to become IQOS, levels up in 2008 with a new dedicated R&D centre in Switzerland. ​

While PMI’s research into heated tobacco alternatives goes back to the early 1990s, 2007 marks a turning point when a heat-not-burn prototype using HeatControl™ technology is developed. The device is a technological step forward but is ergonomically awkward. ​