IFA 2018: what to look out for at Europe's biggest tech show

With CES, Mobile World Congress and E3 all out of the way, the next major tech conference is coming up: IFA.

Set in Berlin, the tech conference takes place over the final weekend in August with the tech companies around the world displaying their new and upcoming products.

Rumours abound about new smartphones, smart home gadgets, and wearables we could get a glimpse of at IFA 2018.

Here’s what we hope to see at the event.

Fitbit at IFA 2018

Every year, Fitbit usually launches a new device at IFA so we’re hoping that this year’s conference will see the launch of the new Fitbit Charge 3.

According to Android Authority, the device will be the wearable tech company’s new fitness tracker, an improved version of the Fitbit Charge 2.

With a full touchscreen display, connected GPS and a rumoured battery life of seven days, this is a smart wearable to look forward to.

Honor at IFA 2018

The invite to Huawei’s Honor IFA conference promises its new device will be “crazy fast crazy smart” and will teach you “how to beat game lag”.

This is most certainly a reference to its latest device, the Honor Note 10.

Already unveiled in China last month, the new phablet has a whopping 7-inch screen, but with very slim bezels so it is firmly in the smartphone category.

It uses the same Kirin 970 chipset that powers the Huawei P20 and has a dual camera with Honor’s AI technology.

This will be the first time we get to see the new smartphone in Europe so it will be an exciting event.

Huawei at IFA 2018

Huawei is certainly going to be busy at this year’s IFA 2018. As well as the Honor launch, Huawei itself will be unveiling the Huawei Mate 20, its new flagship smartphone.

The next device in its phablet range, the Huawei Mate 20 is going to be a big phone, coming in at 6.9-inches.

It will boost a 42-megapixel triple lens camera set up, at least 6GB of RAM, an in-screen fingerprint reader and facial unlocking on the front.

It will be fairly expensive, with rumours saying it will cost around £555. If you’re a Huawei fan who can’t fork out that much, there’s always the Huawei Mate 20 lite, which will be a budget-range device at around £360.

LG at IFA 2018

LG’s main push at IFA 2018 is going to be all about its smart home tech.

Already confirmed are the company’s new clothes steamers, the Styler ThinQ and Styler Mirrored Glass Dorr, both fit with LG’s artificial intelligence.

There could be an appearance from LG’s new smartphone, thought to be the LG V40, an update to last year’s V30.

But we’ll have to wait for IFA to find out if this is true.

Samsung at IFA 2018

Like LG, Samsung’s IFA event is going to be about smart home tech, given it has already announced the new Note 9 smartphone earlier this month.

The Korean company could take this year’s IFA as a chance to unveil the first 8K TV. This would be the highest definition television available, with twice as many horizontal and vertical pixels as a 4K.

The invitation for the Samsung event also drops hints about new fridges and washing machines, that will all be part of Samsung's smart home tech hub.

Sony at IFA 2018

Sony’s IFA appearance could be the chance the company needs to debut the Sony Xperia XZ3, which could be the first 5G-enabled smartphone to go on sale.

Other exciting specs include a 48-megapixel camera, waterproofing and wireless charging capabilities.

As well as a new smartphone, Sony could also be announcing its next range of noise-cancelling headphones, the Sony WH-1000 MK3.

We loved the MK2 range so it will be interesting to see the improvements made for the next generation.

What about Apple and Google at IFA 2018?

If you were hoping to see new products from Apple and Google at IFA then, unfortunately, those hopes will not be answered.

The two tech giants famously shun the major tech conferences, choosing instead to unveil products at their own events.

With a new range of iPhones and the next Google Pixel phones expected in the autumn, you’ll have to wait a bit longer to see what Apple and Google have in store for 2018.