Samsung Electronics will not take part in this year's Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin (IFA) due to COVID-19 concerns.

The IFA is one of the oldest annual industrial exhibitions held in Germany.

Samsung said the widely anticipated decision was made as the size of this year's IFA tech fair was radically reduced.

"We've decided to cancel our participation in the IFA exhibition due to COVID-19," a Samsung Electronics official said. "However, our regional branches will promote our products through online events as well as other small-scale events."

The company also said it will hold an online press conference at the show for its newly released European market products.

While the IFA usually attracts 100,000 industry officials, general participants and the public, the organizer decided to drastically cut the size of this year's exhibition because of COVID-19 concerns. It has placed a daily limit of 1,000 attendees. The organizer also said most events will be held in the form of conference calls.

Parts of the event will be closed to the public and only accessible to industry officials and media representatives who have registered.

Since February, Samsung Electronics has canceled all major international events due to the virus. It has been considering whether to take part in the IFA since April. In previous years, Samsung has used the IFA to showcase its products for the European market.

Samsung's decision is likely to have a big effect on the event's success and could hinder relations with IFA organizers.

But Samsung's bitter cross-town rival LG Electronics said it will take part in the IFA, as scheduled, to promote its latest products.

"We are positively looking into taking part in the exhibition, although we probably won't open a booth," an LG Electronics official said. "CES and IFA are the two main exhibitions in the home appliance sector where companies reveal their newly released products and showcase their technical competitiveness while opening up opportunities to hold meetings with buyers."

By: DocMemory
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