Europe’s biggest electronics convention is just around the corner. Some of the biggest consumer electronics companies will be making their way to Berlin, Germany to unveil new gadgets and gizmos including but not limited to smartphones, smartwatches, home appliances, and more. What should you expect? Here’s a good list:
This year, Ubergizmo’s main sponsor at IFA is Lenovo, so we would like to thank them, and remind you that their media event will happen on Wednesday, Aug 31 at 7pm Berlin / 1pm ET / 10am PT. We have added the official Lenovo video teaser for IFA below, and you can follow Lenovo at IFA on Twitter @lenovo with the tag #LENOVOLAUNCH.
The IFA stage has previously been used to launch many flagship devices and we expect some to be unveiled there this year as well. Many great product announcements have been made here in the past and after CES this is perhaps one of the most anticipated consumer electronics conventions in the world. Here is what to expect from IFA 2016 where big companies like Samsung, Huawei, and Sony will be in attendance. Other companies may have succeeded in maintaining secrecy, so make sure to check our IFA coverage daily.
Acer
Every year, Acer comes out with several new products at IFA and we expect that to be the case at IFA 2016 as well. The company has not really dropped that many hints about new products that will be unveiled in the near future, but rumor has it that Acer has a gaming smartwatch as well as a fitness band in the pipeline. No further information is available right now about the specifications and features of these wearable devices but Acer is expected to formally launch them at IFA 2016. Acer has confirmed that it will be conducting a press conference and will showcase new products at the event.
Asus
Asus also has a history of unveiling new devices at IFA and it’s going to be present at the conference this year as well. It might unveil several new products but the one that’s most talked about right now is the company’s first round smartwatch. It’s expected to unveil the Asus ZenWatch 3 which is believed to be round much like the Samsung Gear S2. This will be the company’s first round smartwatch and quite a departure from the square-ish design of the ZenWatch and ZenWatch 2. Asus has already released a teaser for this smartwatch, telling us that “incredible is coming” on August 31st when it holds its IFA press conference.
Lenovo
Not much has leaked with Lenovo, but the company has published an IFA video teaser showing laptops, bendable phones, Motorola phones and a mysterious new keyboard.
LG
LG’s most highly anticipated product – the LG V20 – is not going to be unveiled at IFA, rather the company will be conducting a separate event for it in the first week of September in San Francisco. However, do expect the Korean giant to unveil some new consumer electronics devices in Germany. It has already announced some funky new Bluetooth speakers ahead of IFA 2016. LG is also expected to showcase some new wearable devices and even TVs at the conference.
Motorola
Motorola may not be coming out with any new smartphones at the conference as it has already released the new Moto G and Moto Z handsets aside from the Moto E. It’s quite unlikely that new smartphones might be on the agenda. Even though there haven’t been any rumors about it, one must consider the fact that the company came out with three versions of the Moto 360 smartwatch at IFA last year. It might show off a new wearable device at IFA 2016 but there’s not much evidence to support this theory right now.
Huawei
Huawei is one major Chinese manufacturer that’s quickly expanding its reach and increasing its market share. The company’s Honor sub-brand has done wonders for its fortunes and the company appears to be set to repeat this strategy. It has already sent out a teaser for its September 1st event where it’s likely going to launch a new sub-brand. Huawei is rumored to be launching a new smartphone it has made primarily for women at IFA 2016, however, it’s unclear what functionality and features it has that will appeal particularly to women above and beyond what every other smartphone already has.
The company is also expected to unveil the Huawei Mate 9 at IFA 2016. This high-end flagship smartphone is expected to feature a glass and metal build. It may be powered by a 10nm Kirin 970 chipset from the company itself though MediaTek’s Helio X30 processor might be used in some variants of this smartphone. No precise information is available about the display as yet but it’s likely going to be over 5 inches with at least Quad HD resolution. Additional features are likely to include native pressure sensing technology, a fingerprint scanner, USB Type-C port as well as a 3,000mAh battery.
Sony
Sony will be present at IFA 2016 to show off some new products. It’s expected to launch new televisions, new audio products, and there are also whispers of new smartphones. It has already sent out invites to the press for its IFA 2016 press conference on September 1st. Products that can be seen in the invite image include the PlayStation VR, TVs, cameras, headphones, and some smart connected devices.
Sony might come out with a new smartphone. An unreleased Sony handset was spotted in the benchmarks recently touting a Snapdragon 820 processor with 3GB RAM, a 21 megapixel rear and 12 megapixel front camera as well as a 5.1 inch Full HD display. It’s unclear at this point what this handset might be called and Sony has not yet dropped any hints as yet to suggest that the smartphone is really going to be unveiled at IFA but since it has used this stage to launch handsets in the past, it wouldn’t be surprising if it’s on the agenda as well during the press conference.
Samsung
This Korean company’s IFA press conference is perhaps one of the most highly anticipated. Samsung has previously launched the Galaxy Note flagship handsets at IFA but that’s not going to be the case this year. The Galaxy Note 7 was unveiled at a separate event in New York earlier this month and the handset has already been released.
However, the company is expected to show off a new smartwatch at IFA. It has already sent out a teaser which is in line with rumors that the Gear S3 is going to be unveiled at the conference. The new smartwatch is expected to be round like its predecessor and may come in as many as three different variants. Internal hardware upgrades are likely on the agenda so expect more power and battery efficiency from the new smartwatch.
There has been some speculation that Samsung’s next-generation high-end tablet will be announced at this event. Rumor has it that the Galaxy Tab S3 is in the pipeline and that it’s going to be a big improvement over the Galaxy Tab S2. It’s also expected that the company will talk about virtual reality at IFA but don’t expect any product announcements because its new Gear VR headset was announced alongside the Galaxy Note 7 in the first week of this month. Samsung might announce some new TVs at IFA 2016 so keep an eye out of that if you’re looking to purchase a new TV from this company.
About IFA
The press conferences always take place a couple of days before IFA formally opens its doors to attendees from all around the world. The newly announced products are then showcased at the companies booths in the exhibition halls. Even if one or many of the products expect from these companies are not unveiled at this year’s conference rest assured that they will still be coming out with a wide variety of interesting new products. IFA 2016 takes place from September 2nd to September 7th at Messe Berlin in Berlin, Germany. It’s attended by professionals who are working in the field of consumer electronics and home appliances from across the globe. This year the number of attendees is expected to be as high as 240,000.
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