What to expect at MWC 2018 – From Galaxy S9 to 5G developments

With MWC 2018 around the corner, we have got a fair idea of what to expect and what not to at the event. MWC stands for Mobile World Congress and is happening in Barcelona this Month end. Samsung is expected to launch their most awaited flagship at the event this year and every major manufacturer is looking forward to launching or showcase what they’ve been working on.

We expect new smartwatches, information on 5G technology, talks about IoT along with the obvious phone launches at MWC this year, here are some of our expectations from the event.

Samsung Galaxy S9 – The attention grabber

The Galaxy S9 will be announced at the MWC and it is expected to steal all the limelight at the event. Although most of the details about the new device have already been leaked, Samsung will be hosting the official announcement on Feb 25^th. The press invitation gives away all the information about the event except for the fact that it is S9 that’ll launch in the event. Samsung is teasing a “reimagined camera” in the new flagship, although the S9 is expected to look very similar to the last year’s flagship, it will be coming with a better processor and more capable Bixby assistant. The Samsung S9+ is also expected to come with a dual-lens setup. Based on the rumors, the primary camera in the S9 is expected to come with an adjustable aperture which will be a major move in the mobile photography department.

Although little information is available about the pricing, the upgraded optics are expected to bump up the price of the S9 to $850 and the S9+ might go on sale for as much as $950.

LG

Our initial thoughts were that LG might unveil the LG G6 successor at MWC, but it now appears that the launch of LG G7 might have been postponed. According to recent reports, the company CEO has called for an idea to be re-thought and this is expected to push the launch date to April. Also, the company recently commented that it might get rid of the annual release strategy for their smartphones and retain their existing models over a longer period. It is more likely that LG might reveal a newer version of the V30 at MWC. The Korean Herald reports that the new phone could be called V30+ Alpha and is expected to come with a host of AI features that are likely to be centered around the Google Assistant.

Huawei

Despite lack of information, Huawei is expected to unveil the successor to the Huawei P10 and the P10 Plus smartphones, the new smartphones are expected to be called as P20 and P20 Plus. Based on the recent rumors, the new devices are likely to be powered by the Kirin 970 chipsets that were previously found on the Huawei Mate 10 series. According to the famous leaker who goes by the handle @evleaks, the camera on the device could be a triple lens 40MP one with a 5x Hybrid zoom combined with a 24MP selfie camera that is co-developed with Leica.

The device is also expected to support Face recognition that is claimed to be safer and more accurate than the Face ID found on Apple devices. Huawei might also show off the successors to the Watch 2 and Watch 2 Classic at MWC this year.

The Huawei Watch 3 is rumored to come with a sensor that can detect gestures you make on the back of your hand, this means that you could sketch a letter with your finger that will appear on the watch screen. You can also double tap, or use the long press gesture to interact with the watch without touching it. Another patent form the company explains the usage of touch-sensitive bezels divided into eight sections that let you tap on them to perform specific actions.

Nokia

Everything was pretty silent on the Nokia end until their CEO tweeted that they were super busy planning MWC and that we can expect it to be awesome. This certainly sets the bar high for the company. A recent leak suggests that the company may announce the Nokia 1, 4, 7 Plus and their flagship Nokia 9 in this year. We expect few of the models to be revealed at MWC this year. We recently heard about Nokia 9 going through FCC in December which gave us a breakup of the specs. The device is expected to come with 5.5-inch QHD OLED display and will have a 13MP + 12MP dual camera setup. The device will be powered by Snapdragon 835 chipset and have a 3250mAh battery to power the device.

The Nokia 7 Plus will be a subtle upgrade over the Nokia 7 that made its debut in October 2017, the Nokia 4 will be a mid-range and the Nokia 1 will be an entry-level smartphone that is expected to run on the minimized version Android Go given the low amount of RAM.

Sony

Sony is expected to reveal their flagship at MWC and the device is expected to be called the Xperia XZ Pro. The device is expected to have a 5.8-inch OLED display with 4K resolution and be powered by Snapdragon 845 paired with 6GB of RAM. This might be the first Sony device with a dual-camera setup having a 18MP primary sensor and a 12MP secondary sensor. The battery is expected to be 3240mAh and the internal storage will be 128GB. The device is also expected to come with an IP68 rating for protection against dust and water.

Lenovo/Motorola

Lenovo launched the Moto G5 and the G5 Plus at MWC 2017 and going by the leaked images of the G6, G6 Plus, and G6 Play, we can expect the similar looking devices to be launched this year at MWC. The Moto G6 is expected to come with a 5.7-inch Full HD+ display and be powered by a Snapdragon 450 chipset while the G6+ variant is expected to be powered by Snapdragon 630 and have a 5.932-inch display.

Both the devices will come in 3GB and 4GB RAM variants based on the internal storage which you can choose between 32GB or 64GB. There are also chances of the Moto G6 Plus variant to be offered in a 6GB RAM variant.

While the G6 will come with a 3000mAh battery and the G6+ with a 3200mAh battery, the Moto G6 Play will sport a 5.7-inch display and have a 4000mAh battery.

Xiaomi – Not much of a scene

Xiaomi is not going to have much of a presence at the MWC show, with only some of the showcases including that of their current portfolio, and we might not see much with the new launches or announcements.

Land Rover Explore

Land Rover has developed the Explore along with the help of manufacturer Bullit. This will be a rugged phone with the Land Rover branding on it. The phone is not just a branding gimmickry and has an interesting modular design that’s found on the Motorola’s Z series Moto Mod devices.

More AI everywhere

Starting with Alexa, followed by Google and with Apple now in the race, the smart speaker market is going all out. We expect more advancements in this segment and also see more integration of connected home devices with smart speakers that have voice-activated assistants. We can also expect European carriers to make their own announcements about artificial intelligence in the home as a way of selling carrier services.

Talks about 5G

As MWC is the biggest trade show focused at mobiles, we expect a lot of talk about the 5G technology. We expect a lot of infrastructure announcements this year and for 5G to be the center of talk at MWC. All segments of the market including the carriers, chipset makers, and smartphone manufacturers are getting ready for the final 5G specification to be announced in June. We now expect to hear all about the real world trials and experiments by the different companies before the final announcement by the end of the year. Intel and Qualcomm will be talking about the real world application of 5G and a separate 5G summit will bring together the industry executives working on the next generation of wireless technology.

Google

Google has always had its presence at MWC with most of its announcements revolving around partnerships. Last year, Google announced that it would be bringing Google Assistant to all Android phones and not limit it to just the Pixel devices, going by the push that Google is offering to Assistant, it is likely to see announcements regarding the same at MWC this year. We don’t expect to see any new hardware from the company here.

Wearables

While we certainly don’t expect to see a newer version of Android Wear at MWC, we do expect to see plenty of warbles at MWC this year. Greengart claims that this is one such is where the device vendors, software manufacturers, and carriers are all in sync and that the technology has evolved to where we can do useful and exciting things on smartwatches.

While we expect to see devices focused on health, they generally require a government clearance in many countries if they claim to offer clinical insights into health or to diagnose medical condition of the user. Some companies are still ready to take the extra effort in getting the approvals and we can expect to see anything from wearable blood-pressure sensors to Air Pod styled earbuds with featuring heart rate sensors.

We also expect to see a lot of Augmented reality headsets and their applications at MWC. App developers are also expected to show off what they could do with Google’s ARCore that Google offered as an augmented reality software development kit for compatible Android Phones.