Mobile World Congress 2026 is happening this week, and while Can Buy or Not is not in Barcelona covering the “most influential connectivity event”, our inboxes have been inundated by tons of press releases about the new products and tech introduced at the event.
Instead of launching products at MWC, the biggest consumer tech brands have typically done their own events for key announcements — Samsung revealed the Galaxy S26 phones last week in San Francisco, while Apple has just announced the entry-level iPhone 17e and a new iPad Air. As a result, MWC has become the place for other competing brands to steal the limelight.
This year, there’s the added distraction of geopolitics with the Middle East crisis. But that aside, it’s looking to be one of the more exciting editions of the trade show, with the Chinese smartphone brands out in full force.
Xiaomi started the ball rolling with its AI-heavy “Human × Car × Home” smart ecosystem featurin…
