CES came and went as quickly as January did, and now we’re already looking ahead to MWC later this month. MWC, or Mobile World Congress, is a combination of the world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry and a conference featuring prominent executives representing mobile operators, device manufacturers, technology providers, vendors and content owners from across the world. It’s one of the biggest events of the year for mobile enthusiasts.
Typically taking place sometime in February or March, 2016 is no different. This year’s MWC takes place between February 22-25 in Barcelona, and already there’s quite a few reasons to be excited for what’s to come in 2016.
LG
LG has no secrets when it comes to what day they will be showcasing their new flagship, the LG G5. Dubbed “G5 Day”, February 21 will be the first day that we can officially see what LG’s been cooking up over the past year. With LG gaining more and more traction for their flagships with each passing year, I have no doubt that the G5 will be an impressive device. Rumors of the G5’s specs include a Snapdragon 820 processor, 3 or 4GB of RAM, 32, 64, and 128GB of internal storage with microSD support, a rear-facing camera upgrade, fingerprint scanner, USB Type-C charger and an IR blaster. There are also rumors stating that this phone will feature a 4,000mAh battery, which could make for some seriously impressive battery life.
Samsung
Samsung will be holding an event just hours after LG’s unveiling of the G5. Although not as straightforward about what will be unveiled, the hint given in their teaser ad, “#TheNextGalaxy”, pretty much says it all. There’s a good 99.9% chance that Samsung will unveil the highly anticipated Galaxy S7.
Following the course of last year’s Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge release, this year is expected to be largely the same. Some of the more notable changes rumored to come with the Galaxy S7 would be the removal of the camera hump on the back, terrific battery life on par with the Galaxy Note line, and water resistance. The S7 will also likely feature either the Snapdragon 820 processor, or Samsung's own Exynos 8890 (or both, with the Snapdragon variant most likely being sold to U.S. consumers).
Rumors have been picking up with rapid speed lately on the S7, with this image leak being the most recent. The camera hump is gone, but I can’t help but notice that it looks considerably less glass-y than last year’s S6 – could Samsung be going back to a polycarbonate material this year?
Sony
While it’s possible that we could see the Sony Xperia Z6 appear at MWC, the more likely candidate seems to be the Xperia C6. I’ll be honest here and say that I haven’t much paid attention to Sony’s smartphone line outside of Xperia Z. When availability for the device is so limited here in the U.S., though, there are plenty of other things for me to focus on. Still, the C6 has managed to make rounds due to this recent leak showing a nearly bezel-less display. Sony’s Xperia C series is more mid-range, and although the alleged design is impressive, the mid-range specs are likely to stay while Sony continues to use the Xperia Z name as its flagship.
BlackBerry
The BlackBerry Vienna is rumored to be BlackBerry’s next Android handset. The Vienna takes on a more traditional BlackBerry design by keeping the physical QWERTY keyboard and candybar form factor. The BlackBerry PRIV, BlackBerry’s first foray into the Android universe, also kept the physical QWERTY keyboard in slide-out form. Personally I would love to see the Vienna appear during MWC.
Microsoft
The Lumia line hasn’t garnered as much attention under Microsoft’s name (yet) as it did with Nokia, but it would seem that Microsoft is still trying. Microsoft’s Lumia 950 and 950XL made its debut late last November, but it would seem that Microsoft may be adding two more Lumias to its lineup. The rumored mid-range Lumia 650, 750, and 850 smartphones may be making their debut during MWC as well.
HTC(?)
Although it’s recently been speculated that HTC’s M10 won’t be showing up at MWC, here’s to hoping that those rumors were wrong and it does. Although I’m still in support of not releasing a rushed phone, I think it would be better for HTC to release the M10 alongside these other highly anticipated flagships so as to not be overshadowed just a month or two later.
These are just some of the phones anticipated to show up during MWC later this month. Readers, which phones do you hope to see during MWC this year? Let us know in the comments below!