It’s the last day of Mobile World Congress, which means everything is coming to an end in Barcelona. Here’s all the major news we saw announced at this year’s event.
MWC 2022 was packed with new and exciting products from some of our favorite brands including Samsung, Huawei, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme and countless more. It wasn’t just smartphones either, but watches, tablets and laptops that were all on display at the show.
Read on to find all the new and incoming technologies that caught our eye at this week’s MWC.
When is MWC?
MWC started on 28 February and ended on March 3, 2022. The show took place in the same location where it has been cast since 2013: Fira Gran Via in the Spanish city of Barcelona.
Samsung at MWC 2022
Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360
As the highest profile Android manufacturer, you might have expected Samsung to be the star of the MWC. However, the brand unveiled its flagship Galaxy S22 series back in February, led by the Galaxy S22 Ultra.
However, that doesn’t mean we didn’t hear anything exciting from Samsung at the event, as the company was showing off two laptops at the event instead.
The Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 was introduced as the successor to the Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360. The device is a thin and light 2-in-1 device with a new 12th generation Intel Core i5/i7 Evo processor, AMOLED display and S Pen support , up to 21 hours of battery life and Windows 11 out of the box. Check out our hands-on review for more information.
Samsung also launched the new Galaxy Book 2 Pro, this time with 12th Gen Intel Core chips and 5G on board. You can read about our experiences with the laptop in our hands-on test.
Sony at MWC 2022
Sony has not been represented at the MWC since 2019. An official statement on this is as follows:
“Sony Corporation has made the decision not to have its own booth at MWC 2022. As the world has largely shifted to digital and online opportunities, Sony Corporation will communicate in a way that can bring our exciting new products to a wider audience.”
Huawei at MWC 2022
Huawei MateBook E
Huawei announced a range of devices at the event, including the MateBook E 2-in-1 with OLED display, the incredibly powerful MateBook X Pro laptop, and Kindle competitor MatePad Paper eReader.
Read all about the new laptops and e-readers in our guide, or learn more about our experience with the MateBook E in our Windows 11 2-in-1 hands-on review.
OnePlus at MWC 2022
OnePlus 10 Pro
Some of the most anticipated phone launches in early 2022 are the OnePlus 10 and OnePlus 10 Pro.
The latter got its Chinese release on January 13, but promised a reveal “later in 2022” for customers in the US and Europe. At MWC, the brand announced that the 10 Pro will be available in North America, India and Europe by the end of March, meaning fans won’t have to wait much longer to get their paws on the flagship phone.
We got a chance to pick up the OnePlus 10 Pro at the event, which you can read all about in our first review.
Xiaomi at MWC 2022
Poco X4 Pro
The Xiaomi 12 flagship landed in China on December 28th with a great deal of excitement, but has yet to be officially launched in the West.
We had hoped that MWC would be the right place for such an unveiling, but the phone proved a disappointing absence from the event. Thankfully, we heard about the manufacturer’s sub-brand, Poco.
Poco introduced two phones at MWC this year – the Poco X4 Pro 5G and the Poco M4 Pro. Both devices offer a range of flagship features at budget-friendly prices, with the X4 Pro starting at €299 (around £248) and the M4 Pro starting at €219 (around £181).
You can read about our first experiences with the Poco X4 Pro in our hands-on test of the smartphone.
Motorola and Lenovo at MWC 2022
Motorola was reportedly “quietly preparing the third-gen Razr,” which gave us hope that we’d see the Motorola Razr 3 at the event. Unfortunately, the foldable hasn’t made an appearance, but we’ve seen new products from Moto’s parent company, Lenovo.
These include a wide range of ThinkPad and IdeaPad laptops, as well as the budget-friendly Tab M10 Plus tablet. You can read both in more detail in our respective guides.
Honor at MWC 2022
Honor Magic 4
Following the split from Huawei, Honor products are once again available with Google Mobile Services, and the brand recently triumphantly returned to our shores with the Honor 50.
A premium smartphone, the Honor Magic 4 series, was presented at this year’s MWC, led, of course, by the Honor Magic 4 Pro, which we were able to test at the event. The brand also introduced the new Watch GS 3 and the Earbuds 3 Pro.
Oppo at MWC 2022
Oppo Find X5 Pro
Some of the most exciting products presented at MWC 2022 were the Oppo Find X5 and Find X5 Pro.
Max Parker had the opportunity to spend time with the Pro, which you can read all about in our hands-on review linked above. This includes first-hand details on the new design, features like SUPERVOOC fast charging and the latest changes to the phone’s triple camera. Check out our comparison article to learn more about how it compares to the standard Find X5.
Oppo also announced its latest developments in fast charging at MWC this year, showing off 240W SUPERVOOC – a flash charge that can charge a 4500mAh battery to 50% in 3.5 minutes or 100% in just 9 minutes.
Launched alongside the 150W SUPERVOOC flash charge, which can charge a battery to 50% in 5 minutes and 100% in 15 minutes, with the added benefit of the Battery Health Engine. This allows the battery to operate at 80% capacity after up to 1600 charges, effectively doubling the battery life compared to the industry standard.
Rich at MWC 2022
Another brand with a flagship phone in development is Realme, and apparently this one is so special that it will be the brand’s first product to be labeled “Pro+”.
That likely means the Realme 9 Pro+ will have excellent camera and screen specs, but we’ll have to wait until its launch to find out for sure.
In the meantime, we had the chance to spend time with Realme’s first true flagship, the Realme GT2 Pro, which you can read all about in our hands-on review of the phone.
Realme also announced its latest advancement in fast charging technology with the new Ultra Dart Charging Architecture (UDCA), which can charge a phone to 50% in just 5 minutes.
Like Oppo’s fast charge technology, UDCA also offers battery protection, which means that the cell can still be charged to 80% after over 1000 charges.
Trustworthy recording
There’s no denying that in-person events like MWC have had a rough few years due to the Covid-19 pandemic and we’re still not out of the woods, as evidenced by the no-shows of the likes of Sony.
However, thanks in no small part to the delicious rumors gathered above, there is reason for optimism this year, and nothing excites me more than the possibility of a new generation of foldable phones from Huawei, Motorola and Honor. If form factor is really going to be the future of mobile technology then it is this burgeoning competition is exactly what we need to see.
