IFA 2020: What's happening to Europe's biggest tech expo this year?
IFA Berlin is one of the most significant spots on the calendar for product launches but it's having to change in 2020. "Our industry urgently needs a platform," said Jens Heithecker, speaking via an online presentation on the plans for IFA 2020. "It will be IFA, but not as we know it."
IFA, or Internationale Funkausstellung, is Europe's biggest tech show. Held in Berlin over the first few days of September, it's the place where LG, Samsung, Philips and Sony launch their European TV ranges. We also see a lot of audio products launched at the show as well as smart home gear. There's also a lot of kitchen tech, too.
The show started in 1924 as a radio convention. Unlike many such shows, IFA is open to the public, meaning anyone can go and marvel at the latest and greatest technology. However, that's going to be different in 2020.
How will IFA 2020 be held?
The Berlin government announced a ban on all events with more than 5,000 participants until 24 October 2020, however, Messe Berlin has been working with the local authorities to come up with a new concept for IFA Berlin, focusing on health and safety, so that some form of the physical event can be held, between 3-5 September 2020.
Firstly, the show is not going to be open to the public in 2020, so it's going to be industry only, which reduces the numbers of participants significantly. Instead, the event is going to be limited to 4,000 attendees; the event itself is going to be divided into three different segments, broadly representing the areas that IFA has hosted in the past, divided as follows:
- IFA Global Press Conference
- IFA NEXT meets IFA SHIFT Mobility
- IFA Business, Retail & Meeting Lounges
The part that's of most interest to us is the Global Press Conference, which is where companies launch new products, as detailed below.
There will be 800 journalists covering the show, but IFA has also confirmed that it's going to have a livestream for the entire event which will be hosted by Messe Berlin. The aim here is to be able to showcase all the new products, without the need for booths full of people. Journalists will be invited to make face-to-face meetings, if appropriate.
It has already been confirmed that Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon will be making one of the keynote speeches, likely focusing on 5G. IFA claims that over 80 brands will attend.
However, some companies are saying that they won't be attending, and many will be running virtual events instead. Here's a breakdown of everything happening in and around IFA.
Not all are official IFA events - but if they fall into a close launch window, we're including them in the list. To keep things simple, all the times are in CEST.
Launches expected for IFA 2020 (official and unofficial)
Asus
Asus normally announces a range of new notebook models at IFA. We've already heard that Asus is planning to launch the Zenfone 7 on 26 August which is pretty close to the IFA launch window. Whether there will be additional products launched to tie in with this September launch window, we currently don't know.
Garmin
Garmin often uses IFA to show off a range of new devices and there's no telling where Garmin may focus its efforts - although the Forerunner 45 Plus recently appeared with no word on Garmin. The area we're expecting updates is around the Forerunner 645 Music, which is now one of the older devices in Garmin's line-up.
Honor at IFA 2020
- 11:25 CEST, 4 September 2020
Honor is confirmed to be attending IFA, looking to continue its push on the global market. The company is slowly teasing and confirming products, including a rugged smartwatch. We're expecting phones, fitness trackers, notebooks and perhaps a tablet too.
Huawei at IFA 2020
- 14:00 CEST, 3 September 2020
Huawei is still producing plenty of products, but we're not expecting any major phone launches in line with IFA 2020. Instead we expect that the company will be pushing updates to the MateBook X. The company recently updated the models at an event in China and we might see those getting a global announcement in line with IFA 2020. We're expecting a tease of the Mate 40 and perhaps the Huawei Mate 2 folding phone. Previously we've seen Huawei announce it's latest Kirin platform at IFA.
Harman/JBL
- 14:00 CEST, 4 September 2020
Harman along with the JBL brand normally has a big presence at IFA. For 2020, it's going to be running a virtual press conference from Harman's Amsterdam HQ. We're expecting a range of updates to all the Harman brand speakers.
Lenovo
Lenovo usually has a wide range of devices to show off at IFA, updating notebooks for the following year. At the moment it's not clear what Lenovo might be planning. We're hoping to get some more news on the international availability of the Legion Duel gaming phone.
LG at IFA 2020
- 11:00 CEST, 3 September 2020
LG will be hosting a press conference in Berlin. So far there's little clue as to the content - often LG makes announcements in advance of shows, but with fewer people heading to the phyiscal event, we're not sure how LG will plan this IFA. You can expect updates around connected home devices.
Motorola
- 9 September 2020
Motorola launches a lot of phones and it has an event booked for just after IFA on 9 September. We already know that's going to be for the next version of the Moto Razr, its folding phone. Whether there will be another launch we don't know - rumours of the Moto G9 Plus launch are also circulating.
MSI
- 17:00 CEST, 3 September 2020
MSI is getting in on the act with a launch smack bang in the middle of when IFA is scheduled. We have no idea what to expect but it's likely to be notebook updates.
Neato Robotics at IFA 2020
- 13:25, 4 September 2020
When it comes to Neato, you pretty much know what you're going to see - and we'd bet our shirt that it's a new robot cleaner. Beyond that, we really don't have a clue.
Nokia
HMD Global has been a little quiet recently. Having missed the chance to launch at MWC 2020, we saw the Nokia 5.3 and Nokia 8.3 announced. There's rumours of the Nokia 7.3 now circulating as well as the ominous Nokia 9.3 PureView. We originally thought these might appear at IFA 2020, but we've not heard anything for a while from HMD Global.
Panasonic
- 16:00 CEST, 2 September 2020
Panasonic has confirmed that it's going to be announcing the Lumix S5. Normally we'd have expected this to be showcased at IFA, but this time Panasonic is hosting its own event to reveal its latest camera. We don't know if Panasonic will be making other announcements, often there's an update on TV at IFA too.
Philips Hue/Signify
Signify, the parent brand of Hue, had planned to be at IFA 2020, although its now listed that event as cancelled on its website. Regardless, we still expect there to be some new Hue announcements in time with IFA 2020.
Philips TV/TP Vision
- 12:00 CEST, 1 September 2020
Philips, or rather parent brand TP Vision, usually has a big presence at IFA. But this year it appears to be going it alone with a virtual event. We're expecting TV updates and possibly something from the Philips Audio side.
Qualcomm at IFA 2020
- 09:45 CEST, 3 September 2020
Qualcomm president Cristiano Amon will be the speaker at the opening keynote for IFA 2020. Amon will likely talk about the challenges the industry has faced before focusing on 5G. That's likely to be about bringing 5G into a new more affordable segment which has been a trend of smartphones in 2020. We're not expecting many new product announcements but we could see some Snapdragon 690 devices launch at IFA, with Qualcomm in support.
Realme at IFA 2020
- 12:25 CEST, 4 September 2020
Realme will be attending IFA for the first time in 2020 and has teased that it will have something big to launch. It's expected that the company will be giving a global launch to the Realme X3 Pro, recently announced in China.
Samsung
- 10:00 CEST, 2 September 2020
Samsung has cancelled its IFA appearance and is instead hosting its own event called Life Unstoppable. We're expecting to see the latest updates on TV and connected appliances. There might also be some announcements around availability of the new Galaxy Z Fold 2.
Sony
Sony Mobile normally uses IFA to launch an update to one of its devices and we'd guess that to be the Xperia 5 II, it's smaller flagship phone. Whether that will happen or not we don't yet know. Sony also updates TVs and sometimes some of its audio offerings, but currently there's no word on plans from the brand.
TCL at IFA 2020
- 13:00 CEST, 3 September 2020
TCL ususally uses IFA to talk televisions and to show off the latest models that it will be offering. The company's save the date pushes IoT and AI and there's a QLED TV sitting at the side. Exactly what we'll see announced we don't yet know.
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