The
Mobile World Congress (MWC)
technological congress opened its doors in
Barcelona
this Monday with the expectation of receiving some
95,000 attendees
, a figure close to the pre-pandemic editions, and
artificial intelligence
(AI) as the main protagonist, followed by advances in
5G
technology
.
With increasing doubts surrounding the success of the metaverse,
generative AI
(used to create content, whether text or audiovisual) is the sector's big bet this year to boost cell phone sales, which have been declining for several months.
GSMA
, the organizing company, was also excited to be able to recover in this edition (the 18th) the Asian attendees who had not been participating in the Congress since the outbreak of Covid-19.
The fair occupies the eight pavilions of the FIRA on Gran Via in Barcelona, which will bring together over four days (until Thursday) more than
2,400 exhibiting companies
, and more than 750 operators and manufacturers in the telecommunications sector, such as Samsung , Xiaomi, Orange and Vodafone.
Huawei, focused on the development of
5.5G
technology
,
It was once again the one that occupies the most space.
Technology heavyweights such as
Microsoft
,
and
Amazon
are also present .
Apple, as usual, is the big absentee.
MWC 2024: the main news
King Felipe VI of Spain observes a prototype of a flying car during the opening day of MWC 2024. (Photo: EFE)
With a cell phone market slowing down in recent years due to a lack of impact news, this edition of the MWC comes at a time when the sector hopes to begin its comeback driven by the development of
artificial intelligence
.
Several manufacturers announce their technological advances in this field, such as the American chip manufacturer Qualcomm or the Chinese company Honor, which presented a
camera with AI-enhanced performance
.
Nearly twenty talks and round tables on AI were scheduled on the opening day alone, and some of the key names in the sector spoke, including
Demis Hassabis
, co-founder and CEO of
Google DeepMind
, considered one of the
fathers of artificial intelligence.
.
Cyberdog, the robot dog, was also present.
(Photo: Bloomberg)
Hassabis assured that users are only seeing the
"surface"
of what is to come in a few years, and anticipated that
in the next five years
the way of understanding portable devices such as phones may change.
Brad Smith
, president of Microsoft, one of the large shareholders of OpenAI (
ChatGTP
) and one of the main architects of the rapid adoption of generative AI in the business world, assured that we are facing the emergence of a
new economic sector in itself
.
Among the new developments on the market this year, equipment such as the Samsung Galaxy S24 stands out, with AI systems that offer
simultaneous translation of calls
, as well as tools to improve the writing of text messages and retouch photographs.
The models that are already a reality coexist with conceptual proposals that anticipate the future of the industry, such as the Deutsche Telekom
mobile prototype
, with an intelligent assistant that
replaces all the applications
that must be installed on current smartphones.
Among the most striking features is also the prototype of
Motorola's ultra-flexible folding cell phone
, which can bend enough to be worn on the wrist.
Motorola's ultra-flexible concept.
(Photo: Reuters)
In addition, there are many real cases of use of
5G
, a technology that has already been common in MWC editions in the last five years but has not finished taking off due to the large investments it requires.
Added to this are solutions with their new evolution:
5.5G
, key to the ever-increasing demand for data transfer, with virtual and augmented reality as the protagonist.
Technology giants are also multiplying efforts to improve
battery performance
.
A new challenge for the sector, called at the same time to reduce its environmental footprint.
Greater autonomy, faster recharges, less dependence on strategic metals, all manufacturers seek to have more efficient batteries.
The margin of progress is still very wide since the capacity of the batteries - which, for the most part, show an
autonomy of one day and a useful life of a few years
- is one of the weak points of cell phones, subjected to frequent use. more intense.