IFA 2016 event schedule - What to expect

Peter, 31 August 2016

IFA hasn't officially started yet but the press days run early to give tech jounalists a taste of the latest tech before the crowds take over. The first couple of events already went live, but there's so much more to expect.

Let us be your tour guides and familiarize you with the schedule.

Wednesday, August 31

Acer - over

Acer showed off several laptops, including the world's first laptop with a curved screen. It's so thick that it looks like it might have eaten a few more compact laptops, not to mention it weighs 8kg. But it's a proper beast in many ways.

Gamers will also be interested in the VR headset. StarVR offers an amazing 5K resolution with 210° field of view - industry-leading specs. Pre-orders start in Q4 but wait till you hear the price. No, really, you would have to wait.

Asus - over

Asus also showed off a number of laptops, including the new ZenBook 3, which is lighter and thinner than the MacBook, but packs a Core i7, a massive 1TB SSD and 16GB of RAM. Borrowing from its smartphone cousins, the ZenBook 3 has fast-charging - 60% in 40 minutes. But this and the Transformer 3 Pro were announced a few months ago.

So, of course, we were more interested in the Asus Zenwatch 3 and ZenPad 3s 10. The tablet brings a hexa-core processor and LTE connectivity. A whopping 5 speakers and a battery good for 10 hours of video playback make this a media powerhouse. It's only 5.3mm thick too, wonderfully portable.

Unlike the previous generation, the ZenWatch is round and beautiful, build with jewelry-grade 316L stainless steel case and premium Italian leather bands- a truly premium smartwatch.

nubia - over

"Dream without boundaries." ZTE's sub-brand has its own even under this banner and to us, it means just one thing - bezel-less screens.

The nubia Z11 family is expected to drop by. The medium Z11 is officially China-only for now, the Z11 Max hasn't made its way west either. Only the Z11 mini is listed on nubia's international website and perhaps this changes today.

Samsung - over

Samsung is bringing out the new Gear S3 smartwatch, there's no secret about it. Chances are, it will be the only new device we see tonight (though most likely in two versions like the S2).

The Gear watches are Tizen's success in the market, as the Tizen phones stay in the background (they are Samsung's exit strategy if Google pushes Android in a direction the Korean conglomerate doesn't like).

Stay tuned for a timely innovation. August 31. Berlin. pic.twitter.com/kUMG3l6BEs
— Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) August 15, 2016

Anyway, the Galaxy Note7 got a high-profile launch, the Samsung Z3 had its (less flashy) unveiling too, unless the company succeeded in keeping an ace up its sleeve, away from prying eyes, a smart timepiece will be the star of this event.

Lenovo - over

Lenovo has an event scheduled for late in the evening and so many rumored phones.

Mostly from the Motorola division - the Moto Z Play, the Moto Z (2016), the Moto M. Chances are low, though, these are high-profile launches and will probably happen under the Motorola banner rather than the parent Lenovo.

#LenovoLaunch is right around the corner. We've convinced the team to give you a sneak peek. Shhh, don't tell.https://t.co/XkqpncBZZ9
— Lenovo (@lenovo) August 30, 2016

Under the Lenovo brand, we may see a tablet - the Yoga Tab 3 Plus. A tweet shows a hardware QWERTY, so standby for a laptop or a 2-in-1.

Thursday, September 1

Huawei - over

Huawei put out two glow in the dark teaser images that clearly show two different phones. The images bear the tagline "Defy expectations," which in our case happen to be about the Huawei Nova (after a Huawei exec shot down talk of new Mate phones at IFA).

The Nova is reportedly aimed at women. @evleaks promises a Plus version of this phone too, accounting for the second device.

Huawei teasers for IFA event

Sony - over

The comment section is pumped up about this one - the Sony Xperia XR has the makings of a fan-favorite and promises to be the true successor of the Xperia Z5 (going by rumors, the chief upgrade over the X Performance is the return of 4K video capture).

But it was when pics and specs of the Sony Xperia X Compact surfaced that the cheering became audible. Sony got a lot of fan love for being the only manufacturer to make a proper Android flagship mini and the demise of the Xperia Z series put that under question.

ZTE - 22:00 CEST

Like Samsung, ZTE was direct about what it will show - we love this attitude. The ZTE Axon 7 mini will blow us away with its amazing speakers (so the teasers promise).

The company treats Axon as a semi-separate brand too, the Axon 7 is already official and on sale in the US. Some German retailers jumped the gun and revealed its specs - not quite a flagship mini and not quite a mini either (5.2" screen).

A grand poster for a diminutive phone

Reader comments

Anonymous
01 Sep 2016
t7X

Cause Xiaomi is a Chinese company, Chinese companies enjoy a lot of subsidies from the Chinese government hence they can sell their product much cheaper than other companies.