What to expect at IFA 2019: All the biggest launches from Samsung, Sony and more this week in Berlin

IFA 2019 is here, and we couldn’t be more excited. The tech industry is descending on Berlin from 6 – 11 September, with a huge number of top firms unveiling a correspondingly huge number of new products and services over the course of the week. Press and influencers have been swarming the place for days now, dirtying the nice new technology with their grubby mitts. How dare they. 

IFA can present a bafflingly complex weave of events, with a smörgåsbord of product launches from a wide variety of companies. To make things that little bit simpler, we’ve decided to take a machete to the proverbial thicket, by compiling this handy guide. Below, you’ll find a comprehensive list of the most important manufacturers to grace IFA’s many stages and a guide to the products that they are expected to announce.

What to expect at IFA 2019: Smartphones

Motorola

The Motorola One Zoom is official. Lenovo’s new Motorola handset is named for its 10x hybrid zoom, just one of the many party tricks packed into a quad rear camera array. At £379, it’s definitely shaping up to be a serious mid-range champion. We spent a bit of time with the Motorola One Zoom at IFA – here are our early impressions.

Samsung

The Samsung Galaxy Fold is relaunching at last – you can find out more in our dedicated news article. You’ll be able to purchase one from 18 September in the UK, although the bendy handset is first available in South Korea from 6 September. As you can see above, we also managed to touch the thing – here are our thoughts on Samsung’s folding smartphone.

LG

LG is taking the fight to Samsung with the LG G8X ThinQ, a dual-screen smartphone that closes like the clamshell feature phones of yore. Our man in Berlin Jon Bray has had a look; you can find out what he thought about LG’s folding G8X ThinQ here.

Nokia

Introducing the Nokia 6.2 and Nokia 7.2: The Finnish firm has refreshed both its budget and mid-range lines in time for IFA this year, producing five very affordable handsets with enticing specs and stunning bezel-less designs. We picked the Nokia 6.2 and 7.2 as our favourites, and spent a bit of time getting to know them better.

Asus

Our Expert has seen the newly announced Asus ROG Phone 2 and is suitably impressed by the Snapdragon 855 Plus and 1TB storage. Could it be the best gaming smartphone ever made? Read our hands-on review to find out. 

Sony

After a short keynote speech at IFA, Sony unveiled the Xperia Compact 5, a £715(ish) smartphone with almost identical specs to the Xperia One. With the same 21:9 aspect ratio as its sibling, the Xperia Compact 5 is ideal for watching movies or streaming Netflix. You can read all about it in our hands-on review.

Huawei

As predicted, Huawei has announced the HiSilicon Kirin 990 and 990 5G chipsets that will almost certainly power the new Mate 30 and Mate X handsets. We were at the launch event, which you can read all about here – Huawei also teased two new colours for the P30 Pro (not the Mate 30, as previously suggested). 

BlackBerry (TCL)

TCL, the parent company of handset manufacturer BlackBerry, has launched a new smartphone that lacks the BlackBerry branding. It’s called the TCL Plex, and it has a Snapdragon 675 chipset, a triple rear camera and a 6.53in display. Prices start at around $360, so this is a mid-range smartphone through-and-through.

What to expect at IFA 2019: Laptops, PCs and peripherals

Samsung

Samsung’s new Galaxy Book S is an ultraportable laptop that comes with 4G LTE connectivity as standard. Our IFA drone Nathan Spendelow is hurriedly putting pen to paper as we speak; stay tuned for our early opinions on Samsung’s most surprising announcement.

Intel

2019 is awash with the Comet Lake and Ice Lake buzz. Intel’s new 14nm mobile chips (and 10nm laptop chips) were unveiled weeks ago to the press, and already they’re the talk of the town in Berlin. We’ve compiled a list of the laptops at IFA 2019 that use Intel’s new processors – you’ll also find some below. 

You’ll also see the phrase Project Athena bandied about: Intel’s new collaborative endeavour will act as a certification of excellence for those laptops that undergo the necessary tests. 

Razer

Razer has announced the Razer Blade Stealth (2019), built on Intel’s tenth gen Ice Lake laptop chips. With 16GB RAM and 512GB PCIe storage as standard, prices start at $1,499.99 – you can read more in our dedicated Razer Blade Stealth article. 

Dell

The mighty XPS 13 2-in-1 joins the Inspiron 7400 2-in-1 in a new category of Dell laptops that fall under the Project Athena banner, and as such will receive physical seals of approval from Intel. These hybrids, alongside the regular XPS 13, XPS 13 7390 and Inspiron 7000 series, are all running Intel’s new tenth-gen processors.

Lenovo

As ever, Lenovo is ready with a few laptops. The Lenovo IdeaPad S540, ThinkPad X1 Yoga and ThinkPad X1 Carbon all run Intel tenth-gen processors; the X1 Carbon is another Project Athena alumni, having been independently tested and certified by Intel itself. These laptops aren’t actually at IFA, unfortunately – we know about them courtesy of a list of laptops running new Intel technology (link above). 

In terms of products that we have seen in the flesh, our laptop Expert Tom Bruce has seen and written about the Lenovo Yoga S740 range; the firm has also updated the entire Yoga line at IFA, which now includes the new Yoga C940, C740 and C640, with Intel tenth-gen CPUs.

This is just the tip of the iceberg – Click here to read our full run-down of all things Lenovo at IFA.

Acer

Acer has unveiled the Acer Swift 5 (2019), built on – you guessed it – Intel’s tenth-gen Ice Lake laptop chips. Acer is touting the new machine as the lightest 14in laptop around. Our Expert in Berlin has weighed in: here’s his hands-on early verdict of the Acer Swift 5. 

The firm has also announced a new gaming laptop, the Acer Predator Triton 300. Powered by Intel’s ninth-gen processors, the Triton 300 is bigger than its stablemate above but somehow packs in an Nvidia Geforce GTX 1650 graphics unit and a 144Hz Full HD display. You can read our full hands-on review of the Acer Predator Triton 300 here.

Last but by no means least is the Acer Aspire 5, which has been refreshed for 2019 with a tenth-gen Intel CPU. We’ll have more information for you once our poor Expert Reviewers have had a chance to catch their breath. 

Asus

Asus is refreshing its ZenBook line, wth three standard models (ZenBook 13, 14 and 15) and a ZenBook Flip 15 that comes complete with an appropriately maneuverable display hinge. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you what kind of Intel processor these laptops are all running…

In addition, Asus has announced the AsusPro B9, which reportedly earns the title of “lightest 14in laptop around” despite Acer making that claim mere hours beforehand with the Swift 5. It’ll be running on an Intel 10th-gen i5 processor.

And finally, here are our first impressions of the Asus ProArt StudioBook One, possibly the most powerful laptop ever to grace the world of tech. It’s squarely aimed at digital creators, packing a 4K display, Nvidia Quadro graphics and 32GB DDR4 RAM. 

What to expect at IFA 2019: Wearables

Honor

There have been no smartphones from Honor this year, but the Chinese manufacturer has popped out a lovely fitness tracker for us to gawk at. It’s called the Honor Band 5, and it’s finally available to buy in the UK for a VERY reasonable £30. It’s gunning for Fitbit, make no mistake. 

Asus

We’ve gone hands-on with the new Asus Vivowatch SP, a do-it-all fitness tracker that can be distinguished from its predecessor by a design overhaul that pushes it directly into the sights of competitors like Garmin and Polar. At $300 (ish), can the extensive health monitoring features justify the price?

Garmin

Hot from the Garmin oven is the Venu, the world’s first GPS AMOLED smartwatch. You can read our early verdict here. In addition, Garmin unveiled the Vivoactive 4 and 4S, stylish successors to the Vivoactive 3, one of our favourite sports watches; you can now read our first impressions using this link.

What to expect at IFA 2019: TVs and audio

Sonos

The highly anticipated Sonos Move is here, and we caught a glimpse of it. The new portable speaker is battery powered and water/dust-proof, boasting a battery life of around ten hours and voice assistant support as standard. We spent some time with the Move in Berlin and typed up our first impressions in this lovely hands-on review. 

Also present at the Sonos IFA presentation was the Sonos One SL, a compact speaker lacking the bells and whistles of the Move; and the Sonos Port, which is designed to work alongside more advanced home audio equipment. More information on both the One SL and the Port can be found at this link.

Sharp

Those of you with more cash than sense (kidding) might want to consider Sharp’s new 120in 8K TV. Our article on it explains the tech in more depth but the gist is simple: this is one of the world’s largest LCD tellys, and it comes with 5G connectivity as standard. Expect to pay a small fortune for this monstrosity.

Amazon

It’s a big year for Amazon at IFA. The tech and retail behemoth is launching Amazon Fire-branded QLED televisions and soundbars, complete with Alexa support and the standard Fire TV Stick user interface. There’s also a next-gen Fire TV Cube – the US-only smart speaker/streaming box – which could for the first time launch in the UK. You can find out more in our article on Amazon’s IFA event.

Audio-Technica

We certainly hadn’t anticipated a true wireless headphone launch from Audio-Technica, but then again, no-one’s perfect. The memorably named ATH-CKS5TW and ATH-CK3TW buds will cost you a respectable £99, and boast a 15-hour battery life. We’ve written an article on Audio-Technica’s new headphones just for you.

Philips

On the consumer front, Philips is launching two new OLED TVs with built-in Bowers & Wilkins audio, the OLED+984 and OLED+934. Both have Ambilight technology, and feature multiple speakers with discreetly hidden drivers. You can read more in our article covering both of Philips’ new sets.

Retro enthusiasts looking for a classic spin on a modern appliance will be pleased to hear that Philips is also launching a new range of Hue smart light bulbs designed to look like Edison – or filament – bulbs. 

Samsung

Samsung’s brand new 55in 8K QLED TV is smaller and cheaper than its predecessors. The new 8K range will feature Apple TV support as standard, a first for any Samsung telly. The price tag still sits at a cool £2,000 though, so if you’re on a budget, beware.

As IFA unfolds over the course of the coming week, we will regularly update this page. Stay tuned for announcement updates as they happen.