IFA Berlin 2012: Products, Pictures, Videos and More

IFA is an annual consumer technology show held in Berlin—it's a kind of European CES in many ways. A slow move away from IT to general consumer electronics has made this show one of the key dates in the tech calendar. All the main manufacturers will be there—except Apple, of course—showing off new new products due for release both in the run up to Christmas and beyond, as well as demonstrating new designs and concepts, showcasing new trends and technologies, and working on their brand image.

Stars of the Show: Sony & Samsung

New products in all consumer tech sectors are presented at the IFA, including home appliances. Mobile phones—or rather, smartphones—which tend to be unveiled at a separate event in February (MWC) will also be making an appearance at this year's IFA. With more and more phone makers now announcing products at the CES (held in January), the IFA show will no doubt be the perfect occasion to drop a few announcements in this booming sector. Many models are  presented in the run up to the event's official opening, and this year's crop could include a new Galaxy handset from Samsung.

Once again, tablets are likely to be big news at this year's IFA, with word of Samsung and Sony unveiling some new devices.

We're not expecting to see many new cameras on show, however, as the specialist Photokina trade fair is set to be held later this month. Plus, some firms have already presented their latest models due to go on sale in the pre-Christmas period.

TV Tech

As usual, TVs are likely to be one of the main attractions at this year's IFA. We're hoping to see plenty of new Full LED models, as it's about time manufacturers followed LG's lead in ditching half-hearted Edge LED. There could be some more experimental models on show too, with features like glasses-free 3D (Sony, Toshiba, LG etc.), as well as web-connected TVs loaded with ARM processors (at Panasonic, in particular) and maybe even the first Google TVs. Plus, we could well see more passive 3D TVs coming out, as Philips has already started to followed LG down this road by ditching active 3D. We'll also be holding out to see some 4K TVs, with resolutions of around 3840 x 2160 pixels, which should eventually take over from current Full HD LED models.

One last thing we could spot at IFA 2012 is Windows 8, which could crop up in all kinds of new devices ahead of its official release in October.

In any case, stay tuned to this page for all our news from the IFA 2012 consumer technology show.