Best of MWC 2026: Live updates on phones, concepts, and r…

It’s the weekend before Mobile World Congress, and we’ve got a full slate of announcements from Xiaomi, Honor, and more.

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Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form. Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2026 is kicking off today, and it's already shaping up to be a landmark event.

Coming quickly after the latest flagship reveals from Samsung and Google, the Barcelona showcase is pivoting the conversation toward the breakthrough trends and hardware innovations that will define the rest of the year, and ZDNET is on the ground with front-row seats. As is tradition, industry giants like Xiaomi and Honor are set to dominate the exhibition floor, with their own keynotes already have taken place over the weekend.

While Google and Samsung will maintain their own presence, the focus will likely be on ecosystem integration rather than major new hardware. Of course, the real magic of MWC lies in the "showstopper" — that unexpected, boundary-pushing reveal that catches the entire industry off guard. We'll be on the lookout for that over the coming days, as the showfloor officially opens today and runs through the rest of the week.

This year's MWC will run from March 2 to March 5, but manufacturers have already announced products over the weekend. While the trade show was built around members of the press, analysts, business partners, and brands, anyone can access the show floor by purchasing a ticket for about $1,028. By building Nxtpaper over AMOLED, TCL says its phones can now achieve more vivid visuals while retaining the level of eye comfort we've come to expect.

In a warm, naturally-lit room, I picked up a working model and saw the difference myself. Since the beginning, TCL Nxtpaper has been rooted in LCD panels, partly for the ease of light management (to create that natural e-paper appearance) and cost. The downside of LCD backlighting, however, is reduced contrast and color accuracy. That's where AMOLED comes in.  With a paper-like image sample set, the AMOLED unit and an LCD one (albeit an older TCL model), the former was noticeably more color accurate, portraying the brownish tones no matter if it was dimmer or brighter.  In fact, the brightness of the AMOLED unit was just a little past the 50% mark when it matched the LCD one's max.

That's another big draw of the panel upgrade. If you're based in the US, Lenovo sneakily released a host of new laptops and concepts overnight, including ThinkPad, Yoga, and Legion models. Let's focus on some of the concepts here. It's debatable which one of the many concepts is the most bizarre, but my vote goes to the Modular AI PC, which has a detachable secondary display that can be mounted onto the back cover of the laptop, the base of the laptop (by removing the keyboard), or set on a kickstand.  You can freely configure your workflow's setup.

The ports, including USB-C, USB-A, and HDMI, are hot-swappable, too. Then there's the Legion Go Fold, featuring a 7.7-inch display that can expand to 11.6 inches and can be connected to detachable controllers in vertical or horizontal orientation. When not used as a gaming tablet, the Legion Go Fold can be mounted onto a keyboard case, becoming an ultraportable, 2-in-1 computing device. Lenovo also showed off the AI Workmate Concept here in Barcelona, a desk robot with an articulating head that can converse with you and project images and documents as requested.

It won't be the quietest workmate, nor can it travel with you as you navigate a hybrid workflow, but Lenovo believes it's a potential avenue for future spatial capabilities. Honor also unveiled the Magic V6 foldable phone, which ZDNET's Jason Howell tested ahead of the launch and says is the thinnest yet powerful of its kind.  The Magic V6 measures 8.75mm thin when closed, is rated IP68 and IP69 for water and dust resistance, and somehow packs a 6,660mAh battery thanks to its silicon-carbon material.

That's compared to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7's 4,400mAh. It's not even close. But there's more: Honor says the Magic V6 outer and inner displays can reach a peak brightness of 6,000 and 5,000 nits, respectively. That only applies to HDR content, but is still a number we've yet to see on foldables, raising the bar for media consumption. Powering the phone is Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, the same one found in the recently released Samsung Galaxy S26 series.

We're officially on Day 2 of what I'll call "MWC Preview Weekend," and Honor is leading the news wave today with its AI Vision keynote. There, the company announced several new hardware products, including some fresh information on its wild Robot Phone, which debuted at CES. The Robot Phone may be the richest embodiment of AI in a handset that we've seen thus far, for better or worse. It's shaped like a traditional phone, with a slab-like design, but features a rotating camera gimbal that extends from the back of the device.

CNET: A Phone With a Robot Arm? I Got a First Glimpse at Honor's Quirky Camera Phone There are some creative use cases with such a feature, like body-tracking during video calls and more stabilized recording. Then, there are some more questionable use cases, like its playful nods and head shakes (and Honor says it can even dance to music), that give it more personality. Because we all want our phones to have a little more character, no?

Honor hasn't shared a definitive release date for the Robot Phone yet, but it positions the brand well in an AI hardware space that's constantly seeking out what's next. I just got out of Xiaomi's Saturday launch event, where the Chinese electronics maker announced a barrage of products, ranging from flagship phones and Gemini-supported wearables to a next-generation Gran Turismo hypercar.  Judging by the audience reaction, one product was clearly the star of the show — the Leica Leitzphone.

While built on the framework of the Xiaomi 17 Ultra, meaning most of its general specs are the same, the ultra-premium handset features three key differences:  I have more to say about the device in an upcoming story, but it's up there for one of the most fun camera phones I've tested lately. Not everyone should buy one, though, as the Leica Leitzphone won't launch here in the US, and even if you are based in a region with availability, Xiaomi says it'll cost 1999 euros (roughly converting to $2.362).

Will any phone at MWC be as pretty and pink as Nothing's Phone 4a? Ahead of the company's March 5 phone launch, it unveiled a pastel pink colorway that I can't help but be absolutely obsessed with.  It'll be even better if that's just one of many pastel hues Nothing plans to offer the Phone 4a in, as the expected midrange device will need any bit of charm to appeal to the masses. I just touched down in Barcelona and was not prepared for the immigration line to extend all the way to the walking belts.

Either MWC is more bustling than ever, or the BCN airport is severely short-staffed. It might be a bit of both.

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