International Funkausstellung — commonly known as IFA — is a world-famous annual public consumer electronics trade show in Berlin, Germany. Every year, almost all major companies and brands share a common roof under IFA to showcase their innovations and upcoming products. Electronics ranging from smartphones and laptops to home appliances such as microwaves and air purifiers were showcased at IFA 2019.
IFA 2019 began last week on Sept. 6 and ran until Sept. 11 at the Berlin ExpoCenter. While there were hundreds of consumer electronics products showcased, here are all the important smartphone announcements made at the event.
Revamped Galaxy Fold
Samsung Galaxy Fold was the long-rumored and first-ever foldable smartphone to be made available. However, there were several complaints about its screen from users across the globe. While this created several issues for Samsung in terms of reputation and sales expectations, the company did not give up on the idea and unveiled their revamped version of the device at IFA 2019.
The new Samsung Galaxy Fold has several improvements over the previous iteration. The phone now features several design changes. One of the major improvement Samsung incorporated in the Fold is that the plastic film across the screen now goes under the bezels, making it impossible to peel off anymore. The device displayed at the event was 5G capable and was connected on a 5G network at the venue. Users reported having received about 1000mbps of top downloading speeds on the device latched on 5G network.
As far as other specifications of the device, it sports a 7.3-inch main QXGA+ display and a cover display of 4.6-inches. Under the hood, the device is powered by the all-new Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 mobile processor paired with 12GB of RAM. The device comes with 512GB of onboard storage and stays juiced up on a 4,380mAh battery. For more information on the foldable smartphones, click here.
LG G8X ThinQ
LG is now officially in the arena of dual-screen phones. At IFA 2019, the company unveiled the LG G8X ThinQ, which is the LG’s latest attempt at dual screens in a smartphone.
The dual-screen on the LGG8X ThinQ is same in terms of size and resolution as that of the primary screen. Both displays on this device have a 6.4-inch FHD+ display. The device also comes with a 2.1-inch screen on the outside so users can quickly glance at the notifications. As for other specifications of the device, it comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor, a fast-charging 4,000mAh battery, dual rear camera and more. The device is expected to be available starting in the fourth quarter of this year. LG did not reveal the pricing of the device at IFA 2019.
Samsung Galaxy A90 5G
Samsung Galaxy A90 5G is Samsung’s newest 5G-enabled phone available for about $830, which is almost half the price of its flagship 5G handsets. Samsung made quite an impression at IFA 2019 with its all-new A90 5G.
Speaking about the A90 5G, while 5G support is the unique selling aspect of the device, it still boasts various other impressive specifications. It sports a massive 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display with a Full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels. It comes with a triple rear camera setup consisting of a 48-megapixels main camera, 5-megapixels depth sensor, and 8-megapixels ultrawide sensors. However, I believe that this phone might be a bit of an early launcher, because public 5G networks are yet to roll out and users can already get a flagship Galaxy S10 at almost the same price.
Motorola One Zoom
Motorola is back in the smartphone imaging game with its all-new Motorola One Zoom. As the name suggests, the device’s imaging capabilities is its unique selling aspect. The device comes with quad-rear camera setup and has a 3D satin glass on the back to virtually eliminate the problem of fingerprints or smudges on a device.
The device sports a 6.39-inches Full HD+ display with a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. Speaking about the imaging, the device comes with a primary 48-megapixels quad pixel sensor, a 16-megapixels ultrawide angle sensor, an 8-megapixels telephoto sensor and a 5-megapixels depth sensor. The device supports 3x optical zoom and comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor. The device is now available to buy at $449.99, making it a very good value for money mid-ranger.
Nokia 6.2 and 7.2
Nokia has been very actively launching smartphones in various price segments to get back its market share. Accordingly, the company has launched two new mid-range smartphones at IFA 2019 in the form of Nokia 6.2 and the Nokia 7.2. Nokia 6.2 is priced at $220 whereas the Nokia 7.2 will be retailed at $330. Both these phones will be available to buy starting later this month.
Both these handsets sport a 6.3-inch full HD+ display, triple rear camera setup, and run on Android 9 Pie out-of-the-box. Both smartphones are under the Android One project and are promised to get Android 10 and monthly Android updates. They both also share the same 3,500mAh battery and a fingerprint sensor at the rear under the cameras. While the Nokia 7.2 comes with a Snapdragon 660 under the hood, the Nokia 6.2 is powered by the Snapdragon 636.
Sony Xperia 5
The newly showcased Xperia 5 is another gorgeous-looking smartphone with a 6.1-inch OLED display carrying an extra-tall aspect ratio of 21:9. The device comes with almost similar innards as that of the Xperia 1 — its larger sibling.
The Xperia 5 sports the flagship Snapdragon 855 mobile chipset and is paired with 6GB of RAM. The device comes with an built-in internal storage of 128GB as the base configuration, which is an upgrade from the previous 64GB. The device has a triple rear camera, runs on Android 9 Pie out-of-the-box, and has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor. The device comes with Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, GPS, and a USB-C for connectivity purposes. The device is now available for pre-orders in the U.S. and starts at $799.
Apart from these handsets, there were other noteworthy smartphones unveiled at IFA 2019. Some of them include a core gaming handset — ASUS ROG Phone 2, various TCL and Alcatel handsets, and Moto E6 Plus.
Featured image: Messe Berlin
