Mobile World Congress: A Mix of the Best and the Wackiest in Mobile Tech
Mobile World Congress (MWC) is a conference that showcases the latest advancements in mobile technology. This year’s event was a mix of the best and the wackiest new ideas in mobile tech, with a side of jamón and the king of Spain walking by.
The Phones Themselves
The phones themselves were predictable, and often, predictably good. But it was everything else in the margins that was weird: phones with weird back panels, things you put on your phone, or just really cool phone-adjacent screens.
The Most in Show
Every trade show has a main character. A Most In Show. At CES, it was anything Jensen Huang was doing. At MWC, it was the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. There is nothing surprising about this phone, which is to say that it’s a camera with a phone attached, and the camera is a little better this year. But this time, Xiaomi addressed one of mobile photography’s persistent problem children: middling telephoto cameras.
[Image: Xiaomi 15 Ultra’s camera]
The Periscope Camera
The 15 Ultra adds a bigger, 200-megapixel periscope camera to the phone’s already impressive array of camera hardware, and it’s really good. I had many conversations with my fellow nerds and journalists about how good it is… done trying to do, like, 12 years ago.
Other Oddities
Infinix had a concept for a phone case that uses solar power to charge your phone, though you obviously would need a specialized phone to work with it. HMD introduced a pair of wireless earbuds with a case that doubles as a magnetic power bank for the back of your phone.
[Image: HMD Skyline with Amped Buds case attached]
Conclusion
This year’s MWC was a reminder that even though phones may seem boring now, there’s still some room to have fun. And even the boring updates are pretty good ones: foldables are slimmer than ever, there’s a consumer phone with a great telephoto camera on it, and AI features might even live up to the promise of saving us time someday soon. That’s not nothing (I mean, except for Nothing). But for the record, I do still want a Switch that folds. And maybe a phone that smells like coffee, too.
FAQs
Q: What’s the most interesting phone at MWC?
A: The Xiaomi 15 Ultra, with its periscope camera and improved telephoto camera.
Q: What’s the weirdest thing at MWC?
A: The Infinix phone case that uses solar power to charge your phone.
Q: What’s the best earbuds at MWC?
A: The HMD Amped Buds, with their magnetic power bank case.
Q: What’s the most promising technology at MWC?
A: Foldables, which are getting slimmer and more powerful.
