“Here’s what the major brands are expected to showcase at this year’s event”
Every year, the capital of Germany, Berlin plays host to the Europe’s largest consumer electronics trade show, IFA. The European counterpart to Las Vegas’ CES, IFA witnesses the launch of several new gadgets, spanning categories like TVs, tablets, and laptops, among others. This year too, we are expecting big announcements from brands like LG, Samsung, and Sony. Other brands like Lenovo and Huawei also have events lined up this year. While IFA will officially begin on September 1st and will go on till the 6th, the pre-IFA announcements and press conferences are slated to kick off from August 31st. To make it easier, here’s what you should keep an eye out for at this year’s event.
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LG
The Korean handset maker LG has been creating some serious hype around its upcoming flagship, the V30. By now, we already know what the handset would look like and how it would potentially perform, thanks to innumerable leaks. The brand has also revealed that the smartphone will flaunt a dual-camera module with a wide f-stop (f/1.6) as well as Crystal Clear glass lens, which would take in more light, resulting in sharper images. Rumours also suggest that we might see a beefed-up variant in the form of the V30+.
Sony
Another brand that is known for launching its flagship smartphones at IFA is Sony. Just like LG, there has been a lot of hoopla around its next-gen premium offerings. It is being expected that the brand will take to stage to launch at least two new phones – the Sony Xperia XZ1 and Xperia XZ1 Compact. We already have a clear idea of how the devices will look like and their spec sheets. Recently, an accidental listing on Amazon revealed that the Xperia XZ1 is expected to come with a 5.5-inch full HD display, Snapdragon 835 SoC mated to 4GB of RAM, a 19-megapixel rear camera and a 13MP front shooter. The Xperia XZ1 Compact on the other hand, is expected to be a smaller variant with a 4.6-inch display.
Samsung
The numero uno manufacturer, Samsung used to announce its latest in the Galaxy Note series at IFA each year. However, since last year, the brand has started announcing the flagships at separate events earlier. This year too, it has already gone ahead and unveiled the Galaxy Note8. But that doesn’t mean that the brand will be absent from IFA – as it’s expected to showcase a couple of wearables at the very least. The first in the line is the sequel to the Gear Fit 2, called the Gear Fit 2 Pro. The new wearable comes with 5 ATM waterproofing to track swimming and offline track play from Spotify. The brand is also expected to launch the fourth generation of its Gear S smartwatch. While not much is known about the wearable at this point, we will get to know more about it in coming days.
Lenovo / Motorola
Both Mototola and its parent company, Lenovo will be present at IFA too. However, it is uncertain as to what these brands plan to unleash. Last year, the brand introduced the Moto Z Play and Hasselblad True Zoom mod. As per the rumours, we could see the long-awaited Moto X4 this time. The smartphone is expected to be a mid-range offering with a 2.2GHz octa-core processor paired with either 3GB or 4GB RAM. As for Lenovo, we will simply have to wait and watch to see what the company has in store.
Huawei
As of now, Huawei has not given any indication as to what it’ll be launching at IFA, but it does have an event scheduled on September 2nd. The brand is said to be working on the Mate 10, but that’s expected to be released on October 16th. The manufacturer did launch the Huawei Nova and Nova Plus last year, and has already launched their successors in May this year. We can expect these devices to be launched globally at the event this year.
It goes without saying that coming days will bring a ton of exciting smartphones launches and more our way. 91Mobiles will be reporting all of that from the IFA grounds, so stay tuned.
