On CE - For Dealers, Distributors and OEMs of Consumer Electronics throughout EMEA

The EMEA tablet market is down by -11.7% Y-o-Y in Q2 2019, IDC reports, with shipments reaching 9.6 million units, even if detachable/hybrid devices represent a bright spot with shipments growing by 11.8% Y-o-Y following 2 years of consecutive quarterly declines.

"The expectation of a detachable rebound in the market was finally realized in Q2 and on a bigger scale than anticipated," the analyst says. "This was mainly driven by shipment pull-in of the freshly released iPad Air, a budget alternative to the iPad Pro and a contender to the Surface Go in the midrange tablet market with keyboard capabilities that have the potential to become a back-to-school winner."

Facebook goes to show the Portal video chatting device was not a one-off hardware offering as it announces the Portal TV, a means for customers to video chat using the biggest screen in the house.

The Portal TV looks like a miniature Microsoft Kinect, and plugs into TVs via HDMI port to allow Facebook users to make video calls using Messenger or WhatsApp. Video chats made using WhatsApp are perhaps more secure, being encrypted end-to-end, and users can disable the camera and microphone by pressing a button and sliding a cover in front of the device.

Bowers & Wilkins announces the next member of the Formation line of wireless speakers-- the Flex, a cylindrical speaker reminiscent of the Apple HomePod customers can use either independently or as part of a wider Formation wireless system.

According to B&W the Flex pushes "the highest quality sound ever" from a standalone wireless speaker of the same size. It carries the same tweeter technology as the company's 600 series speakers, and leverages a wireless audio platform developed by Eva Automation, an obscure 2016 B&W acquisition. The technology allows it to support 24-bit/96kHz audio together with speaker synchronisation of around 1 microsecond, regardless of other products in use.

HMD Global continues to tap further into the nostalgia for the Nokia phones of old(ish) with the IFA 2019 announcement of the Nokia 2720 Flip, a comeback of the Nokia 2720 flip-phone released around a decade ago.

With the Nokia 2720 Flip, HMD promises a simple and reliable device within the much loved flip form factor. Built out of tough polycarbonate, it features big hardware buttons paired with a 2.8-inch internal display and a 1.3-inch external display. Operation is just like it used to be. The external display shows call details and various notifications, and one can answer calls by opening the phone. Once ready, the user simply snaps the phone shut.