Samsung, Sony, Nokia, and others have all launched devices at IFA 2014 in Berlin, a week before Apple steps up to the plate.

All eyes are on Cupertino, California for next Tuesday's expected unveiling of the new Apple iPhone 6 and possibly the iWatch. But a plethora of new devices were just launched by Apple's rivals at the IFA 2014 tech expo in Berlin this week. What competition will Apple be launching against this fall?

Samsung: The First Smartphone Designed for VR

It's of course hard to say at this point whether any of the devices revealed at IFA 2014 can rival what's become an incredibly hyped-up product cycle for Apple, but the most likely candidate has traditionally been, and continues to be, Samsung.

Apple's chief hardware rival opened up the week in Berlin with a couple of attention-grabbing additions to their Galaxy Note line. First is the Galaxy Note 4, which comes with a 5.7-inch screen sporting quad HD resolution (that's 1440 x 2560p, or a ridiculous 515 pixels per inch).

As we covered in more detail here, the Galaxy Note 4 is otherwise more or less an incremental upgrade over the previous year's model, with higher megapixel counts on both cameras, a faster processor and a more refined look.

But the big feature of the Galaxy Note 4 -- and a reason why we may soon care about quad HD on smartphones -- is the Gear VR accessory.

Gear VR is a boxy headset that you click your Galaxy Note 4 into that basically turns the combination into a high-resolution Oculus Rift. That's not an exaggeration: Oculus helped Samsung design the 360-degree virtual reality kit.