Mobile World Congress 2024: What to Expect at the World’s Largest Phone Show

Mobile World Congress, the biggest mobile event in the world, is coming up on Feb. 26-29 in Barcelona. In the past, the show has featured the introduction of category-defining products from large tech firms like Samsung and Microsoft. They still participate in MWC, but now opt to host their own events for major product launches, meaning other companies get an opportunity to shine at MWC.

Last year, MWC attracted 2,400 exhibitors and over 85,000 attendees. This year, Honor, HMD Global and Nokia, Nothing, and Xiaomi are just some of the companies that have scheduled events.

GSMA, the industry group that hosts MWC, lists its keynote speakers for this year’s conference, which include Accenture CEO Julie Bell, Michael Dell, and CEO and co-founder of Google DeepMind Demis Hassabis. Hassabis is touted as “the father of AI,” which is one of the major themes of this year’s MWC.

Smartphones and their hardware are almost commodities, so giving users a better experience through AI-assisted tools is what’s on deck for the mobile industry. For these tools to truly be useful, they need to solve real problems and they need to solve them consistently. Samsung recently rolled out a whole host of AI features for its Galaxy S24 phones that work fairly well. We expect to see more vendors discussing their vision of how to implement AI into a range of applications, from wireless network load management to equalizing music via smart audio and even animating that cute photo of your pet dog.

Of course, there will be plenty of new hardware at MWC 2024. Last year, Lenovo showed off a concept laptop and a concept smartphone with rollable displays. This year, Lenovo is rumored to show off a laptop with a transparent display. This sci-fi-looking device has some people on X (formerly Twitter) asking “Why?” Concept devices don’t always become real consumer products, but they can still demonstrate a specific technology to a larger industry and push everything forward.

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What’s on deck for MWC 2024? Here’s a quick rundown on the latest.

MWC 2024: On the Schedule

Nothing is holding a press event on Feb. 27. The company has already said it will reveal the Nothing Phone (2a) on March 5. If that phone is set for March, what exactly will we see at the biggest mobile show in the world? Maybe a revision to its distinctive rear LED panel? More wearables? Or it could just be a preview of the Nothing Phone (2a), which would then get an official unveiling later.

Honor has trickled out news leading up to its Feb. 25 “Discover the Magic” event. The Honor Magic V2 was seen at IFA 2023 in September; it’s one of the lightest and thinnest book-style foldables. A Porshe-edition Magic V2 arrived in January along with the Magic6 Pro. A teaser video for the event features a typed Q&A session between a person and an AI chatbot that implies Honor will introduce an AI assistant of some kind or delve into new applications for AI on its devices.

HMD Global, maker of Nokia-branded devices, announced it would be creating phones under its own HMD brand. The company’s CEO said that its new branding will co-exist with Nokia devices. At MWC 2024, we may get a glimpse of what an HMD phone is and how it differs from a Nokia-branded device. As for Nokia phones, well, there’s no word on those.

A number of reports suggest Xiaomi will present the Xiaomi 14 Ultra at MWC. This phone is expected to feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 system on a chip, with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. In its MWC teaser video, Xiaomi showed off smart devices like watches, earbuds, phones, and even its car, the Xiaomi SU7. The company has lofty ambitions for its vehicles as it “aims to become one of the top five global automakers.” Perhaps Xiaomi will show us how all these devices work together.

(Credit: Xiaomi)

ZTE has scheduled a major press event for Feb. 26 where it is widely expected to announce a range of new products. ZTE was once a huge player in the US prepaid market. It is gearing up for a comeback?

Samsung will be at this year’s event. However, it just recently launched the Galaxy S24 series, so expect to hear about Galaxy AI (and not new hardware) at Samsung’s Mobile Business Summit on Feb 26.

What’s not on deck? Apple. The company does not participate publicly at Mobile World Congress. Sony is also expected to be a no-show, at least as far as new mobile devices are concerned. The same goes for Asus, which recently announced the ROG Phone 8, and Realme, which has said it is not participating this year.

Some of the most exciting things about Mobile World Congress are the unexpected reveals, and we will have the most important news from the event here at PCMag. In the meantime, take a look at the best of MWC 2023 to see what people were buzzing about last year.