Samsung on Friday revealed the date of its IFA 2018 conference, confirming that its product keynote will take place a day before the Berlin, Germany-based trade show opens its doors to the general public. As seen on the invitation below, the conference will see the announcement of new smart TVs, Internet-enabled refrigerators, and Wi-Fi washing machines, with Samsung also hinting at the Galaxy Note 9 being planned for a showcase at the event, though the phablet will already be official for three weeks by that point seeing how it’s scheduled to be announced on August 9 in New York City.
While the promotional poster doesn’t point toward any new wearables being planned for an IFA 2018 debut, recent rumors suggested the widely leaked Galaxy Watch will be arriving at the event as the successor to the Gear S3 lineup which Samsung introduced at the 2016 iteration of the same electronics fair. The 2017 edition of IFA also saw the announcement of the Gear Sport, though that particular smartwatch wasn’t positioned as a direct follow-up to the Gear S3 and was instead a more athlete-focused offering instead of a versatile and stylish gadget meant to cater to a wider variety of consumers, even those who aren’t insistent on highly advanced fitness tracking features.
Samsung traditionally had a strong presence at the German trade show, though largely due to the event often serving as the platform for the introduction of its new Galaxy Note handsets. While the Galaxy Note 9 should already be released by the time this year’s IFA takes place, Samsung may use the happening as an opportunity to promote some of its supporting accessories or services. Earlier this week, the company admitted that the Galaxy Note 9 is launching early as part of an attempt to revitalize the firm’s flagship sales that have so far been underwhelming this year, with the Galaxy S9 lineup falling short of commercial expectations.