MWC Barcelona 2023: Mobile Tech Fair To Show Off New Phones

World’s biggest phone show is presenting foldable phones, changing back phones, military grade phones and more in Barcelona this week.

On Monday, the biggest players in the telecom sector will assemble in Barcelona for their most significant annual gathering, which will take place this year amid a terrible downturn in the whole technological sector.

The four-day Mobile World Congress (MWC), which has been disrupted for years by the epidemic, is expected to draw about 80000 delegates.

The latest advancements from industrial giants like Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, and Samsung will be on display, along with smartphones from Oppo and Xiaomi and networks from Orange, Verizon, and China Mobile.

The event is organized by the industry group GSMA, and it centers on cutting-edge concepts like the metaverse as well as artificial intelligence (AI), cryptocurrencies and finance, and the promise of extremely fast 5G mobile networks.

But, given the slowdown in the global economy and the thousands of job losses in the broader tech sector, many of the companies are more focused on regaining profitability.

According to the IDC consultancy, overall smartphone sales dropped by 11.3 percent in 2018 compared to 2021.

Sales of PCs, tablets, and smartphones are expected to decline by 4% this year, according to research firm Gartner.

And even now, years after spending billions in government auctions to get the right to utilize the bandwidth, network operators are still having trouble making 5G profitable.

According to Ben Wood of CCS Insight, “Macroeconomic pressure and geopolitical turmoil will be mentioned by all.”

As the communications sector is not the only one facing these difficulties, the emphasis will be on surviving this trying time and emerging prepared to welcome an eventual return to growth.

Forcing the operators of bandwidth-hungry sites like YouTube, Netflix, and Facebook to pay network providers a “fair share” is a very well-liked notion among many attendees of the expo.

A survey on the subject was started last week by EU commissioner Thierry Breton, who will be at the MWC on Monday. 

Breton said that “high-speed internet involves large investments” therefore it made sense to talk about who should pay for it.

Greg Peters, the head of Netflix, is scheduled to attend the MWC on Tuesday but is not likely to concur with Breton’s enthusiasm.

The event’s organizers are praising the comeback of Chinese participants as a significant plus.

Chinese companies are major sponsors of the MWC, and Huawei is once again given pride of place by hosting the largest specialized pavilion in the long-standing history of the show.

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In 2020, the Chinese tech giant was the second-largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, but it has since pulled back after US regulators said Beijing was in control of it.

Breton and other commissioners are pressuring the company to have its equipment withdrawn from the 5G network infrastructure in Europe, where the company is currently facing pressure.

In a statement, Huawei CEO Eric Xu said he would use the MWC to show off technology that would “assist carriers in meeting changing demand and unlock more prospects for new growth.”

According to the GSMA, there will be 2,000 exhibitors and over 750 operators and manufacturers at the four-day show.