Mobile World Congress is the mobile industry's biggest showcase, and the 2017 version should bring us a crop of shiny new smartphones.
Mobile World Congress 2016 brought us multiple new handsets, including the Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge and LG G5, as well as hardware announcements from everyone from Huawei to Sony.
Mobile World Congress 2017 is rapidly approaching, which means that the world of mobility is about to change once again as the big players in the mobile space announce their new phone hardware for 2017. It's not just a hardware frenzy, however, with significant news and deals emerging across other mobility markets, from the Internet of Things through to mobile banking, telco deals, future networks and software innovations.
What is Mobile World Congress?
Mobile World Congress is the largest and most significant mobile-first conference in the world, held annually in Barcelona. It’s run by the GSMA, with several sub-conferences in other locations, but the primary conference is held in Europe, typically Barcelona, each year.
When will Mobile World Congress 2017 take place?
The official dates for Mobile World Congress 2017 are 27 February 2017 to 2 March 2017, although in terms of news announcements around hardware, software and partnerships, it’s not unusual to see launches just prior to the official start of the conference itself.
With a month to go before it starts, we're seeing more and more rumours, leaks and outright pre-announcements from major manufacturers covering their MWC 2017 strategies. Here’s what we expect to see at MWC 2017:
Samsung
It was widely assumed that Samsung would announce the Samsung Galaxy S8 at Mobile World Congress, because history suggested that it would follow its usual course and announce the phone on the night before the show itself kicks off. The Galaxy S8 will have a lot of Samsung’s hopes resting on it after the explosive failure of the Note 7.
However, it now appears that Samsung will skip MWC as a platform for launching its latest premium phone, expected to hit retail availability at some point in April. It may well still have an impact on other smartphone manufacturers, however, as it has reportedly locked down availability for Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 835 for its new premium phone. That means other manufacturers are unlikely to unveil Snapdragon 835-based handsets, unless they're willing to wait to launch until after Samsung's phone hits the market.
That means that Samsung will head to MWC 2017 with the Galaxy S7 that it launched at MWC 2016 as its hero phone. It seems unlikely that it would launch an updated Gear VR headset with no new phone to wrap into it, although it's possible that a successor to the Gear 360 camera might make an appearance, or possibly other mobile gadgets or services, such as updates to Samsung Pay.
Samsung has the capability to produce plenty of mobile-centric gadgets, and MWC 2017 may be where it chooses to show them off, even if we don’t get to actually buy them until later in the year.
LG
LG went head to head with Samsung at MWC 2016 pitting its modular but ultimately disappointing LG G5 against the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.
It's almost certain that LG will launch the LG G6 at MWC. Rumours suggest that LG has gone back to the drawing board for a more conventional design for what will presumably be the LG G6, but whether it opts to occupy a slightly less premium-priced space, or go all out with a revised feature set as it did with the G5, is still up in the air.
LG has already raised the hype via a YouTube video talking up the features people really want in a phone, as well as announcing a new 5.7 inch display via its display subsidiary that appears likely to power the LG G6. It also seems likely that in order to simplify making the LG G6 water resistant that it will drop the removable battery found in previous generations of its G series phones.
Sony
Sony’s presence at MWC is usually one of launching handset ranges rather than a single hero device, as it did in 2016 with three Xperia X devices. Those phones took some time to come to market and were supplanted somewhat via the very attractive Xperia XZ. Still, even though that phone won’t be that old by the time MWC rolls around, Sony is unlikely to want to cede any ground to its competitors, so the debut of what may well be the Xperia X2 series seems likely.
Like its competitors, Sony has the capacity to reveal additional mobile gadgets or services, as it did with the Xperia Ear and the associated concept gadgets such as the Xperia Projector, Eye and Agent. Sony was very keen at MWC 2016 to point out that it sees a strong future in companion devices, so expect to see something from Sony in this category as well.
Huawei
Huawei is another firm with its finger in many mobile markets, although it used MWC 2016 to launch a laptop rather than a handset. Having already announced the Huawei Mate 9, and revealed that it will launch in Australia in early 2017, it may be too soon for Huawei to go for a fully fledged flagship device. It's not afraid to play in the mid-range space, however, or for that matter offer up wearables, which could be another avenue for it with Android Wear 2.0 coming down the track.
Motorola
Motorola and its parent Lenovo will no doubt announce new mobile hardware at MWC. The big caveat here is that to date Lenovo’s strategy has been to only release Moto-branded hardware to the Australian market. That raises the distinct prospect of some interesting technology announcements around products that we won’t actually see released locally.
Moto is the exception to that, and with Motorola so firmly placing its bets behind its Moto Mod range, we’d expect to see some new Mods, if not new phones at MWC if only to maintain momentum for both the strategy and the branding. Motorola has an event scheduled for the Sunday prior to the official start of MWC 2017 where it will presumably announce successors to the Moto Z and Moto Z Play phones.
Microsoft
Despite rapidly falling market share, Microsoft is still exceptionally keen to stay in the mobile space, recognising it as key to the company’s fortunes as it shifts over time into a services company.
The rumour that’s done the rounds for some time now is that Microsoft will announce a Surface-branded smartphone, although it’s equally as likely that it will simply use MWC to show off Windows 10 Creator Update across a range of mobile devices including tablets and 2-in-1 laptops.
HTC
HTC skipped MWC 2016, preferring to wait out the storm before announcing the HTC 10. It has essentially gone down the same road for MWC 2017, instead opting to announce the HTC U Ultra and HTC U Play smartphones just after CES 2017.
With the HTC U Ultra being HTC's latest premium push it seems unlikely that HTC will announce a second competitor phone at MWC 2017. However while it announced specifications for its new phones, it has yet to reveal pricing or availability, which may be where it makes its MWC 2017 splash. It should also be remembered that HTC has a significant play in the VR space via the HTC Vive, so it's feasible that its big MWC 2017 news could be less mobile-centric and more VR-focused.
Hey, where’s Apple?
While Apple’s iOS-based iPhone devices make up a healthy quantity of smartphone sales, the Cupertino company traditionally never turns up to MWC, preferring its own heavily stage managed events to unveil its new handsets and devices. Don’t expect Apple to appear at MWC, although the timing of the event will roughly coincide with the one-year anniversary of the iPhone SE, so we may see rumours swirling around its successor in that timeframe.
Finder will be present at MWC 2017 reporting all the news as it happens, so stay tuned for the latest updates.
Latest MWC 2017 headlines
Mobile Phones
LG G6 reportedly drops removable battery
Is staying alive when wet more important than switching batteries on the go? Read more...
by Alex Kidman
27 Jan 2017
Mobile Phones
Samsung reportedly locks down Snapdragon 835
New reports suggest that the Snapdragon 835, Qualcomm’s fastest processor ever might be an early Samsung Galaxy S8 exclusive. Read more...
by Alex Kidman
25 Jan 2017
Mobile Phones
Samsung won’t show Galaxy S8 at MWC 2017
We’ll have to wait a little longer to see Samsung’s premium handset. Read more...
by Alex Kidman
24 Jan 2017
Mobile Phones
LG teases February launch for LG G6
Enhanced durability and waterproofing on the cards for LG’s next premium phone. Read more...
by Alex Kidman
12 Jan 2017
Mobile Phones
LG’s G6 will have a 5.7-inch QHD+ display
LG is pitching 18:9 as your ideal phone screen aspect ratio. Read more...
by Alex Kidman
11 Jan 2017
Follow us for all the latest mobile phone news and deals
Subscribe
Like
Follow
Watch
Image: Shutterstock