IFA 2020 is very different this year for obvious reasons, but we’re still seeing plenty of new hardware.
IFA 2020 is very different this year, just like pretty much every other tech event on the calendar, but it is still happening – and we’re seeing lots of new tech announced at the Berlin expo (and from live streamed locations around the world), even as it draws to a close. From new headphones to 8K TVs, here we’ve rounded up all the news so far from IFA, plus what you can expect from all the big name tech firms yet to make their announcements. IFA (it stands for Internationale Funkausstellung or international radio show) is Europe’s answer to CES, held every year in Berlin so that the tech manufacturers of the world can show off their wares – and so that we can get a sneak preview at what the next 12 months in consumer gadgets is going to look like. The IFA 2019 show was a packed one, as usual: we saw new phones from Nokia, new TVs from LG, laptops from Razer and Asus, the Sonos Move, AKA the first portable speaker from Sonos, smartwatches from Garmin and Fitbit, and much more besides. This time around, the ongoing pandemic means that far fewer people will be attending IFA – only a select group of invited journalists and industry representatives are going to be on the ground, whereas IFA is normally open to the general public too. The decreased visitor numbers, in terms of trade, media and the public, has meant some brands decided that it’s not worth the risk in bringing their biggest releases to the show this year. In some ways that’s better for those of us that won’t be traveling to Berlin, because more of the event will be streamed over the web and available to view from anywhere. If you want to tune in, we’ll explain how you can do that below. However, even if the format of IFA 2020 is different to the norm, our in-depth coverage of it won’t be – we’ll bring you all the gadget news and product announcements as they happen, right here, in the first week of September. It hasn’t exactly been a bumper year for phones and tablets at IFA 2020, but there were still a few new devices that caught our eye – and the focus was very much ojn 5G. Samsung gave us what could be its cheapest 5G phone, the Galaxy A42 5G, while Qualcomm’s latest chipset promises to bring laptop smarts to our 5G phones – and it could make them cheaper than ever before. Tablets were few and far between this year, though TCL has launched a new line-up of budget-friendly Android tablets to compete with the Amazon Fire range. Wearables at IFA 2020 has largely been dominated by smartwatches, with the launch of the new Samsung Galaxy Fit 2, the Honor Watch GS Pro, Honor Watch ES, and a new TCL smartwatch designed for seniors, complete with a fall detection feature. Somewhat unsurprisingly, we saw a battery-powered face mask from LG – this nifty device doubles up as an air purifier, though the company was careful not to suggest that it will prevent coronavirus infections. TVs, soundbars, and projectors dominated IFA 2020 – not least due to Philips’ bumper crop of new devices, including a new OLED TV and home audio system. Samsung also had a decent showing with a more consumer-friendly 8K TV (both in terms of price and size), as well as the world’s first HDR10+ projector and an outdoor QLED TV. Noise-cancellation was the name of the game for audio at IFA 2020, with new noise-cancelling headphones and true wireless earbuds from JBL and Philips. Meanwhile, Qualcomm revealed its new ANC Adaptive technology, which improves the noise cancellation of poorly fitting earbuds. In the world of speakers, we saw a new Sonos Move-style portable smart speaker from Harman, as well as a host of rugged waterproof speakers from JBL. We’re keeping our ears pressed firmly to the ground and we’ve got all the information you need on the top brands at IFA 2020, so keep an eye on the sections below to learn everything that’s emerged from each manufacturer.
