Mobile World Congress is one of the biggest tech shows of the year. It happens each year in the city of Barcelona, Spain, and 2024 marks the very first year I was invited to attend the show, flights and hotel completely covered. The problem? When the offer was made to me, I had just gotten through an exhausting CES, and the thought of attending a trade show (in a country I’ve never been to before) sounded as unappealing as you can imagine, so I declined.
Plus, I don’t have a passport.
So, from the comfort of my own home, I watched the events of MWC unfold through the screen of my MacBook. And it was a pretty big show; we saw the usual swath of fresh smartphones appear, Samsung teased a major new product, a few new laptops popped up, and the AI robots made their presence known.
But what were the best things about MWC 2024? What products beat out the rest and demand your attention the most? I’m glad you asked!
Below, I’ve rounded up 10 of the coolest things from Mobile World Congress, and let me tell you, a couple of them are truly wild.
Best Smartphones
Honor Magic 6 Pro
Honor announced at MWC that the Magic 6 Pro, which is already on sale in China, will be going international and hit markets like Europe in the near future (not the US, obviously). That’s pretty great because this phone seems wildly interesting. From its flagship specs to the unique design, there’s a lot of good hardware associated with the Magic 6 Pro, including a huge 5,600mAh battery. Plus, Honor packed in a ton of AI features like eye tracking (coming soon thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3), “Magic Portal” for identifying things like events or addresses in your messages, and a video generator based on the photos in your gallery.
I’m gonna do my best to get my hands on a review unit so I can put it through its paces, it seems too cool not to.
Xiaomi 14 Ultra
I kept watching all my friends rave about the Xiaomi 14 Ultra at this year’s MWC, all because of one feature: the camera system. Xiaomi strapped a 1-inch-type 50MP Sony LYT-900 to the back of this phone, complete with a variable aperture system that can float between f/1.6 and f/4.0 for better control over depth of field. You’ll also find a pair of 50MP telephoto cameras and a 50MP ultra-wide. It’s all backed by a souped-up camera app with all the professional controls you could ask for.
It seems very impressive, especially since the rest of the 14 Ultra’s specs are just as powerful–Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, 6.73-inch AMOLED display, 5,000mAh battery, 90W charging. There’s a lot to like here, and it was a true star of the show.
Best Tablets
Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro
I love a good iPad Pro competitor, and Xiaomi’s Pad 6S Pro looks like it’ll be just that. It comes with an ultra-thin aluminum design like Apple’s tablets, a 12.4-inch 3:2 display with a 3K resolution and 144Hz refresh rate, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, 8GB of RAM, a ton of multitasking features in HyperOS, a big battery, and support for a keyboard and stylus. There’s a little something for everyone, which makes it quite an interesting tablet.
TCL NXTPAPER 14 Pro
Speaking of interesting tablets, TCL’s NXTPAPER 14 Pro had a second chance in the spotlight at MWC after debuting originally at CES. The tablet, which uses a special coating on the display glass to make it look and feel like paper, has a big 14-inch 2K panel with a MediaTek Dimensity 8020 chipset inside, paired with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. You’ll find front and rear cameras, of course, as well as a fingerprint scanner and Wi-Fi 6. The big draw lies in the software which lets you switch between a normal Android experience to one that resembles Amazon’s Kindle, complete with an all B&W aesthetic.
An Android-powered 14-inch Kindle isn’t too far from an accurate descriptor for the NXTPAPER 14 Pro, and if that sounds appealing to you, it can be yours for around $550 (assuming you live somewhere in APAC).
Best Wearable
OnePlus Watch 2
OnePlus came out swinging at MWC with the introduction of the Watch 2, a sequel to the disastrous OnePlus Watch from 2021. From the performance to the build quality to the software experience, OnePlus has salvaged its name in the smartwatch game thanks to the Watch 2. It comes with a dual chip architecture to balance out performance and efficiency, it has a beautiful stainless steel design, and it runs Wear OS 4.0, which is perhaps the biggest upgrade compared to the original model which ran proprietary software.
But here’s the real kicker: it can last up to 100 hours on a charge, or up to 12 days if you use low power mode. That’s a bold statement for a Wear OS watch, and I explore both projections in my review for CNN Underscored. The bottom line is that this has serious potential to be one of the best Wear OS watches of the year, and it’s impressive that it’s coming from OnePlus.
Best Laptops
Honor MagicBook Pro 16
Honor didn’t just show up to MWC with some new phones–it also introduced the MagicBook Pro 16 to take on some of the best laptops on the market. This laptop has a sharp design that reminds me a lot of Dell’s XPS line, a 16-inch 3K display with a 165Hz refresh rate, and a fingerprint reader. However, the real star of the show is its base configuration, which comes with an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, 32GB of RAM, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics, and 1TB of storage. We don’t know the price yet, but even if all you want to do is buy the base model of the MagicBook Pro 16, you’ll be getting some serious performance for your dollar.
Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 5
Lenovo also had some laptop news at MWC with its latest ThinkPad lineup. One of my favorites is the ThinkPad T14s Gen 5 which is–admittedly barely–the thinnest and lightest in the latest generation of the T series. It comes with a gorgeous 14-inch 2.8K OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, Intel Core Ultra processors, up to 64GB of RAM, 2TB of storage, and Lenovo’s signature ThinkPad keyboard and TrackPoint. I got to play around with it at a briefing in New York and I really liked its simplistic approach to a solid business laptop.
Best New Technology
Samsung Galaxy Ring
We first heard about Samsung’s health-tracking ring, the Galaxy Ring, at the company’s Unpacked event in January. At MWC, the ring made its first in-person appearance, and we learned more about what the biggest competitor to the Oura Ring yet will do. It’ll focus primarily on sleep and health tracking instead of workout tracking, as well as fertility tracking and serving up recovery scores every morning. It’ll tie into the larger Galaxy ecosystem with some level of integration with the Galaxy Watch. Of course, it’ll also last for at least a couple days on a charge, although the exact number isn’t known.
I’m very excited for the Galaxy Ring. I just wrapped up my review of the Oura Ring for CNN Underscored, and combined with my growing interest in the world of Whoop and smartwatch fitness tracking, I’m looking forward to seeing what the Galaxy Ring is capable of.
Xiaomi SU7
If there’s a cool electric car at a tech show, it’s hard for me not to give it an award. Xiaomi’s SU7, its first car ever, rolled up to the company’s booth under glistening lights, and boy does it look sweet. The SU7 Max model that was on display could reach 673 hp with peak torque of 838 nm. It could go from zero to 100 km/h in 2.78 seconds, and the electric blue colorway helps it look even faster. It’ll be a serious Tesla rival whenever it decides to ship (which, apparently, is supposed to happen).
Another fantastic day at #MWC24 ends with a haul of awards. Well done to the entire team, you're all incredible!🎉 pic.twitter.com/c9a4Wn4EmD
— Lei Jun (@leijun) February 27, 2024
Best Concept
Lenovo ThinkBook transparent laptop
I don’t think I’ve ever been more blown away by a laptop than I was when I demoed Lenovo’s transparent ThinkBook concept. The laptop comes with a 17.3-inch transparent display that makes every window, app icon, and file you have open feel like it’s floating in mid air. It has a crazy keyboard/Wacon drawing pad on the bottom, and the whole machine feels like it’s straight out of a sci-fi comic book. Transparent screens, to me, are the closest thing we have to feeling like we live in the future, and the ThinkBook I got to see in New York was abundant confirmation of that.
