MWC 2019

MWC is an annual trade show run by the GSMA. The location theoretically moves around Europe, but for many years it has been held in Barcelona, Spain.

Mobile World Congress is one of the biggest and most exciting events in the mobile industry every year. It’s where a lot of big players like Samsung, LG, Sony, and Huawei usually show off their latest and newest phones, tablets, smartwatches, and other tech products.

From 5G to foldables, and everything in between, MWC 2019 has played host to lots of innovation. Huawei delivered its entrance into the foldable market in a big way, while Nokia made the world's first five camera smartphone named Nokia 9 PureView.

Sony made a 4K HDR OLED smartphone with the unique 21:9 aspect ratio, Samsung showed off its foldable Galaxy Fold to the wider public.

Microsoft literally turned heads with the launch of the HoloLens 2, the successor to the original HoloLens − which was announced back in 2016.

LG also unveiled its first 5G phone, the LG V50. The ZTE Axon 10 Pro 5G is another 5G flagship that was announced at MWC. Nubia shows its smartwatch phone.

Let's look deep into the event,

Huawei Mate X(Folding phone): 

It's not the first foldable phone we've ever seen, but it is the most sophisticated, thanks to an OLED panel that bends across a hinge to flip between tablet and two-sided phone formats. Huawei is also dubbing the Mate X as the world's fastest 5G phone, thanks to a combination of the excellent Kirin 980 processor, and the Balong 5000 5G modem. The sub-6 compatible setup allows the Mate X to download at speeds of up to 4.6Gbps, which is twice the theoretical maximum speeds of the solutions from Qualcomm and Samsung. 

Sony Xperia: 

Sony Mobile always launches new handsets at MWC, and this year was no different with no less than four devices announced. Top-of-the-range is the Xperia 1 that sees a 4K OLED HDR 21:9 aspect ratio display.

Nokia: 

There were lots of Nokia-branded phones at MWC (HMD Global licenses the Nokia brand name and uses it on the phones it makes) and this year the star of the show is undoubtedly the Nokia 9 PureView.

Boasting a no fewer than five 12-megapixel camera sensors on the rear, the Nokia 9 PureView takes what Huawei did with the P20 Pro’s triple lens set up last year and runs with it. Two sensors are dedicated to capturing RGB light while the other three are tuned to pull in black and white data. This, in theory, lets you pull in 2.9x the amount of light compared to your typical phone camera setup, hopefully allowing for more detailed and life-like images.

LG: 

LG might not have a foldable smartphone in its range yet, the G8 proves that it still knows how to make a flagship device with a few tricks up its sleeve. And, in the V50, it has a 5G handset ready to compete when the networks are available.

LG V50 got five cameras − three on the back and two on the front − a 6.4-inch OLED display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 modem and a big 4000mAh battery.

Microsoft Hololens 2:

Microsoft launched the second generation version of its augmented reality headset. The Microsoft HoloLens 2 is lighter, smaller and more advanced than the previous model, with a wider field of view and much higher resolution displays for each eye.

ZTE: 

The ZTE Axon 10 Pro 5G is another 5G flagship that was announced at MWC. Like the majority of its rivals, it features the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 and X50 5G modem combo.

Nubia: 

Nubia has announced a smartwatch-phone called the Nubia Alpha. The wearable is equipped with cellular capabilities, a 5MP camera, comes running Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 2100 chipset, and features a flexible OLED display. It features a 4-inch 960×192 OLED display, a 500mAh battery for up to two days of battery, and a range of fitness features, including heart rate tracker. There’s also support for voice commands and gestures.

Qualcomm: 

Qualcomm announced the X55 second-generation modem before the show, but used MWC to confirm that 5G is very much here and now, saying that the roll-out will be 10x faster than 4G. It's very much an Android experience at the moment with a number of 5G handsets announced at the show and switch-on for a number of networks across the globe in 2019.

Qualcomm also announced that it had plans to release a Snapdragon platform with integrated 5G, which will make it cheaper and easier for manufacturers to integrate 5G into more devices.