IFA 2022: Everything we expect to see
IFA is back in full swing for 2022
The fall tech event season is upon us and IFA 2022 in Berlin, Germany will kick things off on September 2 as the first major tech conference of the season with big brands like Samsung, Asus, LG, Qualcomm, Honor, TCL, and more there to impress with their latest products.
We expect a deluge of new laptops, tablets, headphones, smartphones, and more coming from hundreds of exhibitors over the course of the five-day event and we’ll be sure to bring you news of the best products as they are announced.
We’ll update this page throughout the conference, but until the news starts breaking, here’s a look at what we expect to see at IFA 2022 and how you can watch along.
How to watch IFA 2022
Depending on where you are located, you may want to rely on us to bring you the highlights each day as with the convention running in Germany the keynote presentations won’t always be happening at ideal times for U.S. viewers. The convention runs through September 6, but the majority of the presentations are happening early and in many cases slightly ahead of the start date.
There is still an IFA virtual platform available to help you check out all of the exhibitors, but with the convention largely back to an in-person event, the keynotes are going to be available through the YouTube channel for the respective companies.
Qualcomm
Leading the official event off is Qualcomm’s president Cristiano Amon. While the company won’t have its own laptops or phones to show off, there is plenty for the leading chip manufacturer to talk about. While the next generation mobile chipset won’t debut here, Qualcomm holds that for its annual event in November, we could hear more about the next generation processor for Windows on ARM. Beyond that, there are sure to be discussions of 5G and AI, which have moved from buzzwords to cornerstones of the tech world. It may not be as tangible a product as some of the others, but we’ll bring you the most impactful news from Qualcomm’s presentation.
Asus
One product we can be sure Asus will be showing off at IFA 2022 is the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED as the company features it prominently on the countdown timer to its event at 8 a.m. Eastern time on August 31. For those keeping track at home that is indeed two days before IFA is slated to start, but Asus says that’s its IFA announcement so we’ll allow it. This should be more of a true launch availability event for the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, which Asus showed off all the way back at CES in January, so safe to assume that there will be more laptops and perhaps some new monitors or other accessories coming as well.
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Samsung
What could Samsung have to announce? We just had Samsung August Unpacked with the announcement of the Galaxy Z Flip 4, Galaxy Z Fold 4, Galaxy Buds 2 Pro and the Galaxy Watch 5. Oh and don’t forget about the massive Odyssey Ark monitor. Well, we don’t anticipate any new phones, but rest assured it will have something to reveal. Given the scope of Samsung, it’s just hard to know whether that will be a new washing machine, a new TV, or a new washing machine with a built-in TV for that matter. There have been rumors of updates for its SmartThings IoT lineup, so if you are a fan of smart home products this may be the Samsung keynote for you.
LG
Monitors and TVs are the most likely offerings from LG at IFA 2022, now that the company has regrettably (but probably wisely) departed the smartphone business for good. LG’s press release ahead of IFA 2022 could be slotted into the encyclopedia under “vague” as the company indicated it would be “displaying LG’s vision of reimagined technology, rediscovered lifestyles and redefined experiences.” While that doesn’t give us much, it did indicate that there will be “an array of products,” so we have that to look forward to.
TCL
TCL has produced some compelling budget smartphones in the past few years, but it doesn’t look like any phones are in the pipeline for IFA 2022. Based on the preview image the company is showing for its September 1 press conference, we are going to get some new TVs, speakers, appliances and smart glasses. That last one is potentially intriguing, but for U.S. readers TCL doesn’t always release everything here, so we may have to make do with the Ray-Ban Stories.
Honor
An IFA press conference that actually takes place during IFA? Honor is bucking the trend of early announcements and hosting its conference on September 2 at 11 a.m. Eastern. Honor doesn’t have a massive presence in the U.S., but the company produces some solid mid-range phones, we came away pretty impressed with the Honor 70 in our recent hands-on review. The image accompanying the event announcement shows a tablet, a laptop, a phone, and wireless earbuds. That would be quite the collection of announcements, but we’ll have to wait and see if they are ready to unveil all of that now and how much of it will make its way to the U.S.
Sean Riley has been covering tech professionally for over a decade now. Most of that time was as a freelancer covering varied topics including phones, wearables, tablets, smart home devices, laptops, AR, VR, mobile payments, fintech, and more. Sean is the resident mobile expert at Laptop Mag, specializing in phones and wearables, you'll find plenty of news, reviews, how-to, and opinion pieces on these subjects from him here. But Laptop Mag has also proven a perfect fit for that broad range of interests with reviews and news on the latest laptops, VR games, and computer accessories along with coverage on everything from NFTs to cybersecurity and more.