Europe’s biggest technology show, the Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin (IFA) doesn’t compare to the colossal scale of Vegas’ CES but this doesn’t mean it should be ignored. It’s the biggest tech show in the run up to Christmas.

Major manufacturers, including Microsoft, Samsung, Sony, and Dell, will all be showing off their latest products and making new announcements. The show is running across the first week of September (1-6). While it hasn’t officially started yet, this hasn’t stopped companies trying to get ahead of their competitors with a series of press conferences and announcements already being completed.

A Brief Guide To IFA 2017

In what could be a worry for Samsung, LG has announced the V30 flagship handset. With a lack of bezel and no home button, it looks awfully familiar. The V30 has a 6″ screen, looks slick, is water resistant, has a Snapdragon’s 835 processor, 4GB of RAM and 64Gb of storage. There’s a fingerprint sensor on the rear, a 3300mAh battery, and it runs on Android Nougat.

Asus was one of the first companies out of the blocks at this year’s IFA. As well as launching new ZenBooks and gaming laptops, the company has been working with Microsoft to produce a mixed reality headset. It weighs under 400g, has two inside out cameras, a gyroscope, accelerometer, 3K resolution, magnetometer, and p-sensor. When it’s released later this year, it will cost €449. UK price and availability hasn’t been set yet.

Having launched the Galaxy Note 8 a couple of weeks ago, Samsung was never going to bring a new mobile device to IFA. Instead, it has focused on wearable products. In particular, it has introduced two new watches: the Gear Sport (designed for serious activities) and the lighter Gear Fit2 Pro. The Sport has activity tracking, including swimming and GPS; a running coach; a partnership with Uner Armour; Samsung’s Tizen; and Gorilla glass for protection. The smaller Fit2 Pro has a curved AMOLED display, can also be used for swimming, a partnership with Speedo and 4GB of storage.

Panasonic announced its first speaker with an embedded artificial intelligence assistant. Instead of developing its own AI – such as Alexa – the firm has integrated Google Assistant into its GA10 speaker. The speaker has Hi-Fi audio quality and wil lbe launching at the start of 2018. As well as the speaker, Panasonic revived the SP-10R turntable, announced a 77″ OLED and a new pair of Bluetooth headphones.

Dell has released its first mixed-reality headset, using the same Windows Mixed Reality Platform that’s also been adopted by Asus. The device will be available in the coming months and will cost £349.99 for the headset and its additional controllers used to move within the worlds will cost £99.99. Inside the headset there’s a 1440 x 1440 LCD screen a ‘flip-up visor’ and what’s claimed to be a stain resistant coating, to help your virtual experiences be as clean as possible.

Still to come…

Earlier this year Sony dropped plans for its ‘premium standard’ phone and will reportedly release two new flagship Xperia phones at IFA 2017. There could also be a new high-end TV from the firm.

At last year’s IFA, Huawei launched the mid-range Nova and Nova Plus phones. This year it’s likely to build on the Nova range, as well as introduce a Mate 10 and potentially expand its wearables line-up.

HTC has revealed it will launch seven (yes, seven) smartphones this year. It’s already confirmed details for three of them and more are likely to come at this year’s IFA. According to Android Authority the HTC U11 Life may be revealed, with a release date closer to the end of the year. HTC usually announces a slurry of devices at IFA, so expect several more.

A new Moto X is likely to come from Lenovo/Motorola this year. The Moto X4 should be accompanied by new laptops from the firm. LG is set to reveal two new phones, the V30 and V30. These devices will be at the top of the South Korean manufacturer’s range.

Apple never attends IFA but almost always attempts to steal the events thunder. According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple’s California press conference will take place on Sept 12 – where we’ll see the latest iPhone be announced.

What about the others?

They will also be a cavalcade of other manufacturers showing off new products. Based on the rapid spread of Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa, it won’t be a surprise to see new speakers from third party manufacturers, as well as other products with the AI assistants hiding inside. Elsewhere, expect more smart home products, televisions, wearables and more.