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It’s day two of MWC – Mobile World Congress – in Barcelona. Here’s everything we’ve seen so far…
We’re two days in to MWC and there’s been no shortage of announcements at the tradeshow so far, which isn’t surprising considering MWC is one of the biggest tech conferences of the year.
Smartphones, smartwatches, tablets and laptops from brands like Samsung, Huawei, OnePlus and many more have all caught our eye on the showroom floor, giving us plenty to get excited about for 2022.
Scroll down to find everything we’ve seen at MWC from our team in Barcelona, along with all the other great tech we still expect to make an appearance at this year’s show.
When is MWC?
MWC starts on 28 February and finishes 3 March 2022. It’s held at the same venue it’s occupied since 2013, namely Fira Gran Via in the Spanish city of Barcelona.
Samsung at MWC 2022
You might expect the highest-profile Android manufacturer to be the star of MWC; however, Samsung’s unveiling of its Galaxy S22 series, headlined by the Galaxy S22 Ultra, was the big event of February instead.
That doesn’t mean we didn’t expect to hear anything exciting from Samsung at the event, though.
The Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 was unveiled as the successor to the Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360. The device is a thin and lightweight 2-in-1 with a new 12th gen Intel Core i5/i7 Evo processor, AMOLED display, S Pen support, up to 21 hours of battery life and Windows 11 running out-of-the-box. You can find out more in our hands-on review.
Samsung also launched the new Galaxy Book 2 Pro, this time with 12th gen Intel Core chips and 5G on board. You can read about our experience with the laptop in our hands-on review.
Sony at MWC 2022
Sony has not been present at MWC since 2019. An official statement on the matter reads as follows: “Sony Corporation has made the decision not to have its own stand at MWC 2022. As the world has largely shifted toward digital and online opportunities, Sony Corporation will communicate in ways that can bring our exciting product news to a wider audience.”
Huawei at MWC 2022
Huawei has announced a range of products at the event, including the OLED display-boasting MateBook E 2-in-1, the incredibly powerful MateBook X Pro laptop and the Kindle-rivalling MatePad Paper e-reader.
You can read all about the three new products in our guide, and learn more about our own experience with the MateBook E in our hands-on review of the Windows 11 2-1.
OnePlus at MWC 2022
The most highly anticipated phone launches of early 2022 are undoubtedly those of the OnePlus 10 and OnePlus 10 Pro. The latter received its Chinese release on 13 January, but promised an unveiling “later in 2022” for customers in the US and Europe. At MWC, the brand announced that the 10 Pro would be available in North America, India and Europe by the end of March, meaning we won’t have long to wait.
We got the chance to go hands-on with the OnePlus 10 Pro at the event, which you can read all about in our initial review.
Xiaomi at MWC 2022
The flagship Xiaomi 12 landed in China with a big splash on 28 December, but it has yet to be officially unveiled in the West. MWC could potentially be the right place for such an unveiling — and we certainly hope it is — but if not then we can at least expect something to be revealed from the manufacturer’s sub-brands, Redmi and Poco.
Poco unveiled two phones at MWC this year: the Poco X4 Pro 5G and the Poco M4 Pro. Both pack an array of flagship features at budget-friendly prices, with the X4 Pro starting at €299 and the M4 Pro at just €219.
Motorola at MWC 2022
Motorola has feature at previous MWC events, and while the brand may choose the opportunity to showcase some of the mid-range devices for which it is best known, we’re keeping our fingers crossed it unveils the Motorola Razr 3 foldable as well. This follows comments in December from Chen Jin, the GM of the Lenovo Mobile Business Group in China, that the brand is “silently preparing the third-generation Razr”.
As far as parent company Lenovo goes, so far we’ve seen a range of ThinkPad and IdeaPad laptops, along with the budget-friendly Tab M10 Plus tablet.
Honor at MWC 2022
Following its separation from Huawei, Honor products are once again available with Google Mobile Services — and the brand recently made its triumphant return to our shores with the Honor 50.
This year’s MWC saw a premium smartphone launch with the Honor Magic 4. The brand also unveiled the new Watch GS 3 and the Earbuds 3 Pro.
Oppo at MWC 2022
The Oppo Find X5 Pro was unveiled at the conference and Max Parker got the opportunity to spend time with it. You can read about his experience in our hands-on review, which includes first-hand details about the new design, SUPERVOOC fast charging and changes to the camera.
You can also see how it compares to the standard Find X5 in our versus piece and learn more about Oppo’s newest fast charging updates with 240W SUPERVOOC.
Realme at MWC 2022
Another brand with a flagship phone under development is Realme, and apparently this one is so special it will be the brand’s first product with a “Pro+” designation. That’s likely to mean that the Realme 9 Pro+ will have excellent camera and screen specs, but we’re going to have to wait until its launch — which could be at MWC 2022 — to find out for sure.
We’ve already gotten the chance to spend time with the Realme GT2 Pro, which you can read all about in our hands-on review of the phone.
Realme already announced its latest progression in fast charging tech with its new Ultra Dart Charging Architecture (UDCA) that’s capable of charging a phone to 50% in just 5 minutes.
The tech also offers battery protection, meaning the cell will still be able to charge to 80% even after over 1000 charges.
Trusted Take
There’s no denying in-person events such as MWC have had a rough couple of years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and we’re still not out of the woods yet, as attested by no-shows from the likes of Sony.
However, there’s reason for optimism this year not least due to the delectable rumours collected above, and nothing excites me more than the possibility of a new generation of foldable phones coming from Huawei, Motorola, and Honor. If the form factor is really to be the future of mobile tech then this budding competition is exactly what we need to see.
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