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In less than two weeks, Mobile World Congress will kick off in Barcelona, and remind us all that phones can still be exciting. Well, hopefully.
The world’s premier mobile industry event, MWC was hurt pretty badly during the COVID pandemic, and it even went away entirely in 2020. But it’s been slowly returning to form ever since, and this year is poised to be pretty interesting.
MWC 2025: What, where and when
The MWC, or Mobile World Congress, is a large mobile industry event held annually in Barcelona, typically with more than a hundred thousand visitors. It’s essentially an enormous business meeting for mobile industry folks, but a lot of mobile phone makers and consumer electronics companies take the stage in Barcelona’s massive Fira Gran Via venue to announce new products, and this is where we come in.
Here at Mashable, we’ve been covering MWC for 15 years, and we’ll be there in person once again to sift through all of the new phones and gadgets and report back on the most interesting ones.
This year, MWC is held from March 3 to March 6 (Monday to Thursday). But some announcements typically come one or two days ahead of the actual event, so stay tuned for news on Saturday and Sunday.
By the way, if you’re in Barcelona and want to attend the MWC as a regular visitor, you can do so: Tickets for the event start from 989 euros ($1,028), and can be bought here.
MWC 2025: What to expect
Xiaomi
In the past couple of years, Xiaomi has taken the lead at MWC, being one of the largest smartphone makers to launch their flagship devices during the event. This year, the company’s got an event scheduled for Sunday, and we strongly suspect we’ll see the company’s new flagship for Europe. This will likely be the Xiaomi 15, which has already launched in China, but it’s possible that we see a more powerful variant, too.
Credit: Xiaomi
If the Xiaomi 15 Ultra does make an appearance, you can expect it to be more camera than phone, with monster specs all around and a different design from the regular Xiaomi 15.
Nothing
There are no huge surprises here, as Nothing has already sent out invites for the Phone (3a) (that’s Nothing’s more affordable series of phones). We can once again expect to see a partially see-through, cleverly designed Android phone that’s good value for the money.
The only mystery here is whether the company will also launch something else during the event; the official invite is for “Phone (3a) Series,” so perhaps we’ll see more than variant?
Samsung
Will Samsung have people in Barcelona for the MWC? Absolutely. But will the company have a big event there? Probably not, as we haven’t seen much in way of invites, announcements, teasers, or leaks.
Credit: Samsung
Still, the company always makes sure it brings something new to the MWC. Last year, we’ve got our first glimpse of the Samsung Galaxy Ring. This year, the gadget everyone wants to see is the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, the super slim new flagship which was teased back in January; we’re not holding our breath for that one, but it’s a possibility.
Honor
Honor has an event scheduled for Sunday, March 2, and we presume the company’s going to show new gadgets in Barcelona.
Last year, Honor launched the Magic6 Pro and the Honor MagicBook Pro 16 laptop.
This year, however, the company is about to unveil something called the Honor Alpha Plan, and whatever it is, it’ll have a lot to do with AI.
TCL
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
China’s TCL always has a presence in Barcelona, and it typically brings a ton of new phones and tablets to the show. We expect to see more of those snazzy NXTPAPER phones, which are as easy on the eyes as e-readers, but as capable as regular phones.
Nokia (HMD Global)
Ever since the Nokia brand was acquired by HMD Global, the company keeps returning to MWC to scratch our nostalgia itch with a legendary Nokia do-over, and launch a couple of affordable phones on the side as well. We’re not sure what HMD’s got cooking for 2025, but we’ll be there in Barcelona to find out.
Credit: HMD Global
The company has an event scheduled for March 2, so expect to see some new Nokias on the date.
Lenovo
Lenovo is the king of weird laptops. Last year, the company brought a transparent laptop to Barcelona, and while we weren’t quite convinced that the see-through bit was useful, it sure as heck was cool to look at.
Credit: Evan Blass
This year, rumors say Lenovo will unveil the ThinkBook Flip AI, a laptop with a gigantic, foldable display. Now that’s something we could put to good use.
Lenovo’s subsidiary Motorola also tends to bring cool stuff to Barcelona every year. In 2024, it was this bendy phone-that’s-also-a-bracelet thingie, so we’re pretty hyped to see what that company’s been working on since.
MWC 2025: Anything else?
Oh, yes. The MWC is a high-tech event with tons of stuff like robots, cars, and AI-related announcements. In fact, we bet that every single company that’s exhibiting will mention the words “artificial intelligence” at least once, if not seventy hundred times. Last year, we’ve seen some really cool stuff, including Xiaomi’s CyberDog 2 that can do backflips, a bendy Motorola phone, and MediaTek’s seriously impressive AI image generation demo. We expect to see more cool gadgets like these this year, too.
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Mobile World Congress 2025 kicks off in early March. Here’s what to expect from the smartphone-focused event.
