Samsung's sleekest-ever mobile phone, the metal-framed Galaxy Alpha, was expected to be launched at IFA, too, but the company got excited and jumped the gun, announcing it in mid-August.
John Davidson
Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel, is famous in technology circles for his observation that the number of transistors on a processor chip of a given size doubles roughly every two years.
But Moore's Law, as the observation has become known, isn't just for technologists.
It has a useful, everyday corollary even for consumers with no interest in the physics of transistor density: when it comes to high-tech gadgets, the newer they are, the better.
Nowhere is that law of gadgets better on display than at IFA, the world's second-biggest consumer electronics tradeshow, which begins this week in Berlin.
While IFA might be overshadowed by the giant Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas every January, the little sister does have one, crucial advantage in the run-up to the Christmas sales period: its gadgets are eight months newer than CES gadgets, and all the better for it.
By the time Christmas comes around, many of the best devices on the market will be ones announced at (or, in the case of the South Korean manufacturer LG, in the run-up to) the Berlin gadget festival.
Sony is expected to announce an eight-inch version of its ultra-slim, waterproof Xperia Z2 Tablet, for instance, which, based on the tablet's pedigree, stands every chance of being the best mini tablet ever produced, at least until the application of Moore's Law inexorably grinds out a better one, that is.
Sony is also expected to launch a new phone, the Xperia Z3, that will have a faster processor and better camera than the Z2 launched mid-year.
Digital cameras, just like processors, are all about how many transistors you can squeeze into a given area, after all.
The best 'phablet' ever?
Meanwhile, Samsung, the world's biggest consumer electronics manufacturer, is expected to use IFA to launch what's almost certain to be regarded as the best 'phablet' ever. The part-phone, part-tablet Galaxy Note 4 is rumoured to have a fingerprint scanner, just like the Galaxy S4 phone launched in April, a 'selfie' camera, a better camera and a sharper screen than its predecessor.
Phone screens, just like processors and digital cameras, are all about how many components (in Samsung's case, Organic Light Emitting Diodes, rather than just transistors) you can squeeze into a given area, after all.
Samsung's sleekest-ever mobile phone, the metal-framed Galaxy Alpha, was expected to be launched at IFA, too, but the company got excited and jumped the gun, announcing it in mid-August.
It should get one of its first airings outside the UK in Berlin this week, though, as should the Gear S smartwatch, announced last week ahead of the show.
It's one of the first smartwatches from a big electronics company to have its own SIM, so wearers will be able to make and receive calls and send and receive messages without having to pair it with a phone.
Sony is widely expected to launch a smartwatch, too, which may or may not (depending on which rumour your listen to) run Google's Android Wear software, fast emerging as the standard operating system for wearable computers.
Similarly uncertain is whether Sony's watch will have a square face like Sony's previous efforts, or a round face like Motorola's Moto 360 Android Wear watch, slated to be formally unveiled this week, too, though in Chicago rather than Berlin.
However, there's no doubting that the smart watch LG will launch in Berlin will have a round face.
The company has already announced the details of its G Watch R, which will be water resistant, will run Android Wear and will have a 1.3-inch, 320 x 320 pixel display.
The smartwatch looks every bit as though it could be the best one on the market, too.
At least until next week, that is, when Apple is expected to launch a big-screened iPhone that should give the Note 4 a run for its money and a smartwatch that might just put Android Wear to shame, too.
In high tech, even a week is a long time. Moore's Law stops for no one.
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