The biggest mobile trade show of the year is set to kick off on Monday, in Barcelona. That’s Mobile World Congress, which is put on every year by the GSMA. Mobile World Congress is much different from CES which takes place in January, as MWC is all about mobile. From mobile networks, to phones, to tablets, to even software like apps.
Mobile World Congress took a huge hit during the pandemic, canceling the show entirely in 2020. However, in 2025, it appears that the show is back to full strength, as the GSMA recently announced that it has completely sold out of exhibition space for MWC 2025. Which means that this could be the biggest show in recent memory.
Despite Samsung launching its Galaxy S series in early January now, Mobile World Congress is still a pretty big show for other smartphone makers. Particularly for those Chinese OEMs that are not available in the US. This is typically where HONOR, Huawei, Xiaomi and others will hold global launches of their already announced phones from China. And we’re expecting more of that this year.
So, here’s what you can expect from Mobile World Congress 2025 from Barcelona, and we will be on the ground covering every inch of the show.
When does Mobile World Congress 2025 begin?
Mobile World Congress, or MWC for short, technically begins on Monday, March 3. And it runs through Thursday March 6. However, much like with CES and IFA, a lot of the announcements will take place before the show starts, with official press days on Saturday, March 1, and Sunday, March 2.
Many press conferences are happening on March 2nd, in Barcelona, including HONOR, Xiaomi and HMD. Among many others.
If you’re in Barcelona, you can get a ticket to MWC, however it is not cheap. This is one of the few tech trade shows that is open to the public, however most of the public won’t spend the money to get in, since it is €989 (or around $1,028 USD) for a ticket.
Xiaomi
Xiaomi has been teasing its announcements for weeks on social media. We’re expecting to see the Xiaomi 15 series officially announced for markets outside of China. The Xiaomi 15 was actually announced back in October, shortly after the Snapdragon 8 Elite was announced at Snapdragon Summit. This is because Xiaomi got the rights to be “first” to announce a Snapdragon 8 Elite device. However, they weren’t first to market.
Of highlight in this series is the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. As someone that used and absolutely loved the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, I can’t wait for this phone to go official. With the Ultra, it’s all about the cameras, which are set to include a 50-megapixel 1-inch wide-angle lens with OIS, a 50-megapixel 3x telephoto lens with OIS, a 50-megapixel ultra-wide angle lens, and a 200-megapixel periscope sensor for 4.3x zoom, and likely up to 10x zoom via a sensor crop. It’ll also sport the Snapdragon 8 Elite of course, and it appears to be coming with a Photography Kit again, which includes a case and grip, making the phone feel like a DSLR.
There is also the new Xiaomi Pad 7 Series that the company is teasing for MWC this year. This will run on Xiaomi’s HyperOS 2.0, and likely come in 11- and 13-inch sizes. Since it is a “series”.
Xiaomi is also likely to show off their electric vehicle again, last year it was the SU7 which got a ton of praise. Though they haven’t teased this as much.
HONOR
HONOR has some big plans for MWC this year, and they are sponsoring our travel to MWC. However, they have not sponsored any content around HONOR and MWC, so do keep that in mind. We mention this to be as transparent as possible.
The company has been teasing its ALPHA PLAN, which is apparently all about AI and the future. We’ll have to tune in on March 2nd to see what HONOR has in store with the ALPHA PLAN.
We also expect HONOR to release some new hardware at MWC, however, they typically do a global launch of its latest Magic flagship. But that global launch actually happened in January already. So, this could be some smaller announcements like accessories. HONOR has also been teasing cross-device connectivity with iOS and Macs recently.
HMD Global
Last year at MWC, HMD Global had a press event, which was pretty sad actually. It was basically a press event talking about their future, without really showing any products. This year, we’re expecting some phones, likely flip phones. As HMD Global has been teasing it on social media saying “Flip like never before” with the universal AI emoji. Knowing HMD, this likely means a dumb flip phone, and not a foldable phone like the Motorola Razr.
Another teaser HMD Global has shown off is “Power like never before”. This could be related to the processor or battery, but given the video that was posted with it, it sounds like its the battery. Which would be very interesting, as HMD Global is looking to make a name for itself now, and getting ready to ditch the Nokia branding.
Nothing
The Nothing Phone 3a series is set to be announced at MWC, but don’t expect your typical coverage for this series of phones. Nothing is going to announce it at 10 AM on March 4, which is during the second day of MWC. Additionally, Nothing does not have a booth. So that means that only those the company invites to their launch event will get to see the phone – and that won’t be us, sadly.
The Nothing Phone 3a and 3a Pro are both expected at this event, which the company has been teasing over the last few weeks, ahead of the Mobile World Congress launch.
realme
realme has already confirmed that the global launch of the 14 Pro series is set for MWC. Which we got a preview of last December in Copenhagen. The realme 14 Pro Plus is the phone that changes color based on the weather. However, that’s not all realme has up its sleeve.
The company has been teasing on X over the last few days, a new “Ultra” device. This appears to be a phone with a customized Sony 1-inch sensor and the ability to use interchangeable lenses, based on the teasers. As realme shows a lens that is 234mm at a f/1.4 aperture, and says “10x optical telephoto”. Which has us very intrigued. You can bet that we will be heading to realme’s booth as soon as the show opens on Monday to check this out.
Samsung
While Samsung had their big Unpacked event last month in San Jose, the company doesn’t typically do a lot of big announcements at Mobile World Congress, but it does still have a presence. It will still have a fairly large booth in Hall 3, in their usual spot. But we aren’t expecting many announcements from Samsung. The company could use this time to give us more details on the Galaxy S25 Edge, and have it on display again. Last year, Samsung did have the Galaxy Ring on display during MWC, after teasing it at Unpacked.
Though Galaxy S25 Edge is slated for an April 16 launch, so Samsung might be looking to keep more info under wraps about this device.
OPPO
OPPO is another company that just had a flagship launch event very recently. So recently that I wasn’t even home for a full week after the Find N5 launch before heading out to Mobile World Congress. So what does OPPO have planned for MWC? Typically, they don’t have an actual booth (like most of the BBK brands, surprisingly, realme has one though). Last year, they had a dinner get-together for press, where they demoed a number of AI features that later came to some of its and OnePlus devices in late 2024 and early 2025. So we’re expecting more of the same this year.
In fact, OPPO just teased their AI Tech Summit at MWC 2025 this morning on X, so that appears to be exactly what they are doing in Barcelona this year.
Everything else
And there’s more. TCL will be at Mobile World Congress once again, likely giving us another look at the TCL 50 PRO NXTPAPER 5G, 60 XE NXTPAPER 5G and NXTPAPER 11 Plus, which we did get to see at CES last month. We do know that some of these will arrive in the US, likely under $300.
Lenovo will also be there, along with Motorola. They typically share a booth at MWC, and Lenovo usually uses this time to show off some wacky concept devices. From the leaks we’ve seen, it appears that Lenovo might be showing off a folding display laptop, after showing off a rollable display laptop at CES. Another leak has shown us the world’s first solar-powered laptop, that Lenovo will announce next week. Both of which are very intriguing.
As for Motorola, the company doesn’t typically announce anything at MWC. However, they do tend to do some demos of concept products. For instance, last year, we got to see their flexible display phone, which reminded us a lot of the slap bracelets from many years ago. The Motorola Edge and Razr series typically launch closer to May or June, so we don’t expect to see either of those at MWC next week.
ZTE, nubia, and RedMagic all have announcements coming at MWC as well. Redmagic has already teased that there will be two new versions of its 10 Pro gaming phone, including a new limited edition Golden Saga variant.
Finally, Google. Yes, Google will be there again this year, with a pretty large installment outside between halls 2 and 3. Typically, Google will make a few announcements at MWC, largely for the entire Android platform and not specific to Pixel. We have already reported that the Pixel 9a will be announced on March 19, so we don’t expect to see that mentioned at all in Barcelona.
And there will be plenty more at MWC, which we will do our best to bring to you. So stay tuned to AndroidHeadlines for all of the latest from Barcelona.
