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The 2020 IFA Berlin website

IFA Berlin, considered one of the world’s top three appliance and information technology (IT) fairs, kicks off on Sept. 3. But this year’s event appears likely to be a shadow of its previous renditions. Many prominent companies that had previously set up historically large displays -- including Samsung Electronics -- are sitting the exhibition out due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, Chinese companies are moving to fill the gap, attending in large numbers to show off their technology.

As the pandemic was sweeping through the world last April, the IFA Berlin organizers announced plans to organize the event under a new concept. Last year’s exhibition ran for six days from Sept. 6 to 11 and had 1,900 participating appliance and IT companies, with some 250,000 in attendance. This year, the event has been shortened to three days, and the number of daily visitors has been restricted to 1,000 -- including company representatives and the press. The offline exhibition has been substantially downscaled, with most events taking place online.

Samsung Electronics announced back in Aug. 6 that it would not be participating; since then, it has focused on independent marketing based on its own “brand power.” To begin with, it held an online unpacking event two days ahead of IFA on Sept. 1 to promote the Galaxy Z Fold 2, a follow-up to its Galaxy Fold. On Sept. 2, it is holding a virtual event titled “Life Unstoppable,” which targets the European market. During the event, it will be showing off a wide range of mobile devices, TVs, and appliances such as washing machines and dryers.

Attendees try out the Galaxy Fold at the Samsung Electronics exhibition during the 2019 IFA Berlin in September of last year. (provided by Samsung Electronics)

In contrast, Chinese firms plan to show up in force. As of Aug. 31, a total of 942 participating businesses were listed on the IFA Berlin website; 796 of them, or 84.5%, are Chinese. The number of participating companies from China had already been increasing steadily, climbing from 665 (37%) in 2018 to 786 (41%) in 2019. The percentage of Chinese companies at the exhibition has risen as a matter of course as participation by global businesses has dropped off by half this year. The six Chinese companies taking part in a press conference – Huawei, TCL, Haier, Realme, Honor, and Tuya -- represent the second-largest number after host country Germany. The next question is whether Huawei presents the “Kirin 1000” as the latest version of the “Kirin 990” 5G SoC (“system on a chip”), which it unveiled for the first time at last year’s IFA.

The major South Korean firms taking part in the exhibition are LG Electronics and Hyundai Motor. LG Electronics Chief Technology Officer Park Il-pyung is to speak at the press conference and present a future vision for the “New Normal” era, where customers enjoy safer and more comfortable lives centering around the home. As part of the “ontact” (face-to-face online) concept, LG Electronics does not plan to have an offline display; instead, it plans to set up a house in South Korea to use as a backdrop for an online presentation of its latest appliances and IT devices.

Hyundai Motor, which is taking part in IFA Berlin for the first time this year, will not be presenting an offline display either. Instead, it plans to have Head Albert Biermann, head of R&D, and Kim Sae-hoon, head of LG’s fuel cell vision, deliver an online presentation of its future vision for electrification, self-driving vehicles, hydrogen vehicles, and more.

By Song Chae Kyung-hwa, staff reporter

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