At Berlin's IFA consumer electronics fair, ever larger flat-screen TVs have been the main focus for the past few years but this year the spotlight is on the smartwatch segment with Samsung, Huawei, LG, Lenovo and Asus all showcasing models.
This new class of devices, the so-called "wearables" because one wears them on the body, is the hot new trend for which market observers have been predicting a bright future. The focus of the latest devices is on design and customisation, and on amateur athletes as a target group.
Smartphone market leader Samsung is showcasing its Gear S2 smartwatch, which for the first time has a round display. The user is offered 26 design templates which can be customised. The AMOLED screen has a diameter of 1.2 inches (3 cm). To access apps such as the calendar, email or online networks there's a ring at the edge of the display, like the ring on a diver's watch.
Lenovo subsidiary Motorola is attacking the market on a broad front. The second generation of the Moto 360 watch comes in two sizes for men, a version for women and a sports variant with a built-in GPS chip. The Moto also has a circular display - the natural form for a watch, as marketing manager Lally Narwal emphasises.
Chip manufacturer Intel is targeting sports enthusiasts with its Basis Peak fitness tracker software which works on Android phones and iPhones while navigation specialist TomTom is offering a smartwatch without a touchscreen but which has a GPS module and music speakers.
Smartwatches have been on the market for a few years now. Samsung released its first model in 2013 and since then has brought out a range of ever slimmer watches. However, the high sales expectations for these devices has not so far been fulfilled. The arrival of the Apple Watch in April brought the first real sales spike and that device is now the yardstick used by market observers.
According to market analyst IDC, Apple sold 3.6 million of its smartwatches in the second quarter of the year while Samsung sold 600,000 of its Gear model in the same period.
Which firm ultimately wins the race remains to be seen. The decisive factors seem to be how easy the smartwatches are to operate and what additional benefits they offer in everyday life as well as which smartphones they can work with.
The IDC believes that Samsung limited its potential market by deciding that its Gear would only integrate with the top smartphones it makes itself. That changed with the Samsung S2 - it works with all modern Android smartphones.
Meanwhile Google is allowing several new models with its software Android Wear to work with iPhones for the first time, although the functionality is more limited than in the Apple Watch.
Market observers believe that this new market segment will be pushed above all by the proliferation of fitness trackers with functions such as heart rate monitors, calorie counters and pedometers. However, many users have concerns about their health data from smartwatches or fitness trackers being misused.
Another wearable technology, data glasses, is still some distance away from the market. Google halted its Glass project but the technology still lives on.
"Smartglasses are not history," according to Timm Lutter of the German IT industry federation Bitkom. He believes the devices will achieve success in specific fields such as replacements for audio guides in museums and for navigation in cars.