Mobile World Congress is taking place in Barcelona this week, offering manufacturers an opportunity to show off new gear without needing to hold their own splashy event. So far, we've learned about some new laptops and phones, as well as upcoming AI updates to Android.
Here's a look at everything announced at Mobile World Congress that caught our eye. We'll update this story throughout the week.
Lenovo
Among the bigger-name manufacturers, Lenovo has arguably had the busiest MWC so far. The company has revealed a whole bunch of laptops, including upgraded ThinkPads and several intriguing concept models.
The ThinkPad T14s 2-in-1 has a design that’s more aligned with the convertible format of the Yoga lineup than a typical ThinkPad. The 14-inch machine can be equipped with a 400-nit WUXGA touch display. Other ThinkPads are getting spec upgrades, while Lenovo claims the new ThinkPad X13 Gen 6 has “one of the lightest ThinkPad designs ever.” The company has a fresh slate of laptops with generative AI capabilities as well.
Some of Lenovo’s concepts have certainly caught our attention. It’s a bummer that the company doesn’t currently plan to turn the Yoga Solar PC Concept into a commercial device. Thanks to the solar cells on the casing, the laptop can soak up enough energy from the sun in 20 minutes to play an hour of videos. As little as 0.3 watts of light is enough to juice up the battery. While solar-powered laptops aren't exactly new, the Yoga Solar PC feels polished. Here's hoping Lenovo does more with the notion in the future.
In addition, Lenovo showed off some conceptual display accessories for a ThinkBook laptop. There's an eight-inch screen that attaches to the side magnetically to help you, for instance, keep up with notifications and widgets. The Magic Bay Dual Display Concept adds a 13.3-inch panel to either side of the main display. There's also a slim second display that's designed to sit above your laptop screen and provide quick access to things like the time, weather, notifications, a focus mode timer, an AI assistant and notifications.
On top of all of that, Lenovo offered a look at a new prototype laptop with a flexible display. Building on the tech the company used in the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable, the ThinkBook codename Flip AI PC Proof of concept (to give its full name) has a fold-out screen. This allows Lenovo to double the panel's size from 13 inches to 18.1 inches. The ThinkBook Rollable's display, on the other hand, can extend to 16.7 inches. Again, Lenovo doesn't currently plan to release a commercial version of this fold-out laptop, but it's an interesting idea.
Samsung
The main MWC news from Samsung this year is the company's latest midrange and budget phones. The Galaxy A56 has a larger screen than its predecessor at 6.7 inches, but it's thinner too at 7.44mm vs. 8.2mm. There's now a small bump where the volume and power buttons are — a tweak that we feel makes the A56 easier to handle.
Samsung has switched up the camera array in the A56. On the front, there's a lower-res 12MP lens. On the other side, you'll find an upgraded 12MP ultrawide, 50MP main sensor and a 5MP macro lens. The A56 has a bunch of AI-powered camera and image editing features, such as enhanced subject detection in portrait mode and an object eraser.
Pre-orders are open in the UK for the Galaxy A56, which costs $499/£499. It will hit the UK on March 19, but folks in the US will have to wait until "later this year" for it.
Samsung also revealed the Galaxy A36 5G and Galaxy A26 5G. Both devices have a 120Hz, 6.7-inch display with brightness of up to 1,200 nits. They also share an IP67 rating and 5,000mAh battery with the A56.
However, the base models of each only have 6GB of RAM (compared with the A56's 12GB). In addition, the A36 has the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 processor instead of the Exynos 1580 that the A56 boasts, while the A26 has a Exynos 1380 chipset.
Xiaomi
Unfortunately, Xiaomi doesn't have plans to bring a handset it showed off at MWC to the US. That's a real pity, because no other companies are selling phones quite like the Xiaomi 15 Ultra in the country these days.
Xiaomi teamed up with Leica to make a smartphone that leans heavily into photography. The camera array includes a 1-inch 50-megapixel Sony main sensor, an f/2.2 50MP ultrawide cam, a 50MP midrange lens with a 70mm focal length and a 200MP periscope array with a 100mm focal length — that equates to a 4.7x optical zoom. Some preset Leica filters help to tie the two brands' knowhow together.
That's not all that might be interesting to mobile snappers. Xiaomi's separate Photography kit includes an add-on camera grip with a physical shutter button, an adjustable dial and dedicated video button. You'll have the option to attach a standard 67mm filter adapter to a case as well — in other words, some of the equipment you might use on a dedicated camera is compatible with the Ultra 15 as part of this setup.
Moreover, the Ultra 15 has a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate and up to 3,200 nits of brightness to help you get a good look at your captures. Plus, unlike some other Chinese phones (like Huawei's), Xiaomi supports Google services in HyperOS 2, which is an Android skin. The Ultra 15 starts at about €1,499 (around $1,572).
Android
Speaking of Android, Google announced two new AI-powered features for the operating system at MWC. The Live Video function, which Google first previewed at I/O 2024, allows you to share what your phone's camera sees with Gemini so you can ask the chatbot questions about the footage.
The new screensharing function works in a similar way. You can ask Gemini questions about whatever's on your phone or tablet's display.
If they work as well as advertised, these features could be a boon for accessibility. Google will first offer them to Gemini Advanced subscribers starting later this month. Those with a $20 per month Google One AI Premium membership, which is included with some Verizon plans, have access to Gemini Advanced.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/mwc-2025-everything-announced-in-barcelona-so-far-185656341.html?src=rss https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/mwc-2025-everything-announced-in-barcelona-so-far-185656341.html?src=rssLogin to add comment
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