Mobile World Congress 2018 Schedule & Expected New Smartphones – #PhoneRadarMWC

The Mobile World Congress (MWC) is the biggest mobile show in the world that brings together all the manufacturers to one place. Just like every year, the MWC 2018 will also be held in Barcelona, Spain. It kicks-off on February 26th and continues till March 1st. However, the major launches will happen a day before the show begins.

We are already seeing leaks about the devices that are going to be unveiled at MWC 2018. Below, you can find all the information about the devices that will be launched during this year’s show.

MWC 2018 Schedule with Indian Time

Bookmark this link for the complete MWC 2018 schedule with Indian time.

Samsung

Though Samsung skipped launching its flagship smartphone at MWC 2017, it has always been the center of attraction for all MWC goers. Now in 2018, the company will be unveiling the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ smartphones. From the leaked renders, both these new devices look similar to their predecessors. One good thing to notice is that the change in fingerprint sensor placement, it now sits below the rear camera sensor. While the Galaxy S9 comes with a 5.8-inch Super AMOLED Infinity display, the Galaxy S9+ sports a bigger 6.2-inch display.

Compared to Galaxy S9, the Galaxy S9+ comes with extra 2 gigs of RAM and an additional camera sensor on the rear. Both these devices will offer a 12MP rear camera with variable aperture feature. According to the leaks, the devices are also mentioned to feature stereo speaker setup. Unlike other manufacturers, Samsung is still retaining the 3.5mm audio jack on the Galaxy S9 smartphones. In the U.S and China, the Galaxy S9 devices will come powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Mobile Platform and rest of the world will get the in-house Exynos 9810 powered variants.

LG

From the past few year, we have been seeing the new smartphone from the LG G lineup at MWC. While the LG G7 is expected to be unveiled at MWC 2018, the company is yet to officially confirm the rumors. There are rumors that the company might skip launching a new flagship smartphone at this year’s show. Recently, the company official has recently confirmed that its new flagship smartphone is on schedule.

However, there is no confirmation about the device name or its presence at MWC. A few rumors hint the company might unveil a new version of the popular LG V30+ called as LG V30s with a new AI-based feature called LG Lens. The earlier leaks mentioned it to be called as  LG V30+α (LG V30+ Alpha). At the CES 2018 held earlier this year, LG unveiled several new AI-capable products powered by Google Assistant. Unlike Samsung, LG is yet to confirm its presence at the MWC 2018.

HMD Global (Nokia)

After debuting the global smartphone market at the last year’s MWC, HMD Global is rumored quite a few smartphones at the MWC 2018 as well. We expect to see the Nokia 3310 4G, Nokia 6 (2018), and Nokia 7 Plus smartphones. As of now, there is no confirmation from the company and we might also see a new flagship smartphone. The Nokia 3310 4G and Nokia 6 (2018) are already launched in China. Coming to the Nokia 7 Plus, it will be an upgrade to another China-exclusive device from HDM Global, Nokia 7.

The Nokia 7 Plus will also be the first-ever Nokia smartphone to offer an 18:9 display. As per benchmark listings, it will come powered Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 octa-core processor and runs on the latest Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box. Coming to the Nokia 3310 4G, the Chinese variant came with Alibaba’s Yun OS and supports 4G VoLTE. However, the international variant might come with the Android Oreo (Go Edition), the liter version of Android Oreo.

Huawei

Huawei will be the first major manufacturer to hold its keynote at this year’s MWC. However, the company will not unveil any new flagship smartphones at the event. Instead, the company already sent out the media invites for the launch of Huawei P20 smartphones on March 27th in Paris. At the MWC 2018, the company will most launch the MediaPad M5 tablets powered by latest Android 8.0 Oreo-based EMUI 8.0. The tablets will be coming in two different variants with 8.4-inch and 10.1-inch screen sizes.

Both the variants come with metal unibody design and sports physical home button with integrated fingerprint sensor. Though these tablets are said to offer stereo speaker setup, there will be no 3.5mm audio jack. Just like the Apple iPad Pro, the 10.1-inch MediaPad M5 also comes with magnetic pins for connecting additional accessories. The tablets also feature front and rear cameras. We expect these Huawei tablets to come powered by the Kirin 960 octa-core processor instead of the latest Kirin 970 AI chipset.

Asus

In the absence of flagship smartphones from LG and Huawei, Asus is playing its trump card to highlight its Zenfone range of smartphones. While the company usually unveils its new smartphones at the Computex event in its home country, the company’s teaser image hints the unveiling of Zenfone 5 smartphones at the upcoming MWC 2018. While all the Zenfone 4 smartphones come with dual cameras, the upcoming Zenfone 5 smartphones might be offering the new 18:9 display technology along with dual cameras.

Recently, we got the first look of the Zenfone 5 smartphone which the iPhone X-like rear camera placement. From the image, we can confirm it to offer 18:9 display, dual cameras, and the old-fashioned MicroUSB 2.0 port. Even the Zenfone 5 Max and Zenfone 5 Lite smartphones are spotted on a couple of certification websites. As of now, there is no information about the flagship Asus device. We might get some sort of information about the Zenfone 5 Ultra/Pro during its keynote.

The article will be updated, once we get confirmation from other manufacturers. We will be present on the floor at the this year’s MWC in Barcelona to bring you the live reports and big announcements.