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

September brings the tradition of the Apple device launch, and the company goes big for 2019 as it announces three iPhone models, the 7th generation iPad and the Apple Watch Series 5, together with details on the services such as Apple Arcade and Apple TV+.

As mentioned above, the Apple smartphone for 2019 comes in three flavours-- iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max. Perhaps unsurprisingly the regular iPhone 11 is the most basic model, designed to be a replacement for the iPhone XR. It features the same 6.1-inch display as the 2018 model, and promises longer battery life and two new cameras. Meanwhile the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max are XS successors, with 5.8- and 6.5-inch displays respectively and stainless steel cases with an optical PVD coating for a matte texture.

Customers appear to still have a want for physical photos, bringing about the Polaroid Lab from Polaroid Origins-- "an instant formula for timeless images"... or just a portable means to print photos taken on a smartphone.

Technically an update of the Instant Lab, a crowdfunded project from 2012, the Polaroid Lab does not actually connect with smartphones. Instead, it uses a 3-lens camera to essentially take a photo of the photo on the smartphone display, before optimising it and printing it out. Polaroid Labs describes the process as a "miniature tabletop darkroom," since printing involves the same chemistry as traditional Polaroid snaps.

Grundig uses IFA 2019 to announce the Fire TV Edition-- a series of TVs including the first OLED TV with built-in Amazon Fire TV capability, available with or without far-field microphones allowing for voice control.

Based on "last generation" LG OLED panels with wide colour gamut and support for HDR10 and Dolby Vision, the Grundig OLED Fire TV Editions come in 55- and 65-inch sizes. Both feature a 10-speaker system able to output Dolby Atmos sound, while the Fire TV allows users to view both broadcast TV and content from a wide range of streaming services, including Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, ARD, ZDF, ProSieben, waipu.tv and more. The TVs also handle audio streaming from the likes of Amazon Music, Spotify and TuneIn.

The long-running rumours turn out to be true as Sonos announces the Move at IFA 2019-- a first portable, battery-powered speaker from the company featuring both wifi and Bluetooth connectivity.

Around 25cm tall and weighing 3kg, the Move promises to be tough enough to handle nearly everything the great outdoors can throw in its direction. The plastic casing is IP65-rated against water and dust, and features a built-in handle. Inside are two Class-D amplifiers pushing a single tweeter and a mid-woofer driver, with TruePlay tuning automatically tweaking the sound to adapt to the environment.