The world’s largest trade show for the mobile industry took place in Barcelona this week and was chock-full of exciting new technology. Check out what impressed us the most.
BARCELONA—Mobile World Congress, the biggest trade show dedicated to mobile technology, bustled with activity this week in Spain. The GSMA, the industry group that organizes the show, says about 90,000 people attended, a significant jump from 80,000 attendees in 2023.
MWC has expanded far beyond phones to include a wide range of tech, including smartwatches, laptops, and artificial intelligence (AI). After spending nearly a week in Spain and seeing as much of the show as possible, these are the products, concepts, and technologies we think will have the biggest impact on the industry.Best PhoneHonor Magic 6 Pro
The Honor Magic 6 Pro is the company’s latest flagship phone. It has a 6.8-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile processor, a massive 5,600mAh battery, and wired charging at up to 80 watts. More importantly, it banks on AI for a lot of its software features. Honor is using an AI-based Motion Sensing Capture algorithm to help speed up photo capture for fast action scenes such as sports and wildlife. It calls this « sportography. » The MagicOS 8 platform, based on Android 14, uses AI to do things such as automatically recognize addresses in text messages and search for them in Google Maps. It also has a tool similar to Google’s Circle to Search for image-based queries. It’s set to ship later this year for 1,299 euros ($1,409). Best Phone CameraXiaomi 14 Ultra
Xiaomi used MWC to mark the global debut of its Xiaomi 14 and Xiaomi 14 Ultra handsets. Both phones are flagships, but, as the name implies, the Ultra model goes a step further. Its main feature is a 50MP Sony-LYT 900 camera sensor with a variable aperture lens. It can range from f/1.63 to f/4 when the scene calls for it and is about as bright a lens as you’re going to find on a smartphone. The camera supports Dolby Vision and 10-bit HDR log capture for video enthusiasts. The 14 Ultra also has a 6.73-inch 120Hz display, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, 12GB of RAM, and either 256GB or 512GB of storage. Its 4,610mAh battery supports 90W wired charging and it’s all sealed up in an IP68-rated chassis. It’ll cost about $1,625 when it goes on sale. Best SmartwatchOnePlus Watch 2
The OnePlus Watch 2 is a commendable second effort from the company.
