All the Top New Gadgets at MWC 2024

Cell World Congress—or simply MWC—isn’t one among our favourite commerce reveals simply because it’s located within the lovely metropolis of Barcelona throughout a seasonally acceptable time of yr. (Low-cost cava and tapas don’t have something to do with it both.) No, this present is a favourite as a result of it’s one of many best to navigate, and there’s at all times loads of attention-grabbing, enjoyable, or simply plain loopy tech to scavenge by way of.

This yr, such bounty contains transparent laptops, bendable telephones, a Barbie flip telephone, and extra. Listed here are the highlights.

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HMD Rebrands (Form of) and Teases a Barbie Telephone

HMD was purported to be the rebirth of Nokia telephones again when it made a splash at MWC 2017, however it wasn’t lengthy earlier than the corporate misplaced steam and it was clear that the Nokia model identify wouldn’t actually compete with the likes of Samsung and Apple anymore. HMD as an alternative put its deal with finances Android telephones over the previous few years and its characteristic telephone enterprise. At MWC, it introduced that 2023 was the corporate’s first worthwhile yr, and now it’s making an attempt to alter issues up with a rebrand. First is the identify—it’s leaning extra on “Human Cell Units” (the complete model of its acronym) as an alternative of HMD. This yr’s lineup of units will embrace an HMD telephone, an iconic Nokia telephone, plus a Barbie flip telephone.

Yep, you heard that proper. HMD is collaborating with Mattel to launch a Barbie characteristic flip telephone. It’ll be coming this summer season, will clearly be pink, and is being touted as a digital detox system. That’s all we all know. The one photos of all of the teased telephones have been pixelated.

What we do learn about HMD’s different telephone is that it’s going to revolve round a system known as HMD Fusion. Just like Motorola’s Moto Mods or Google’s long-lost Project Ara, it feels like a system of modular elements that builders can construct for the smartphone, from an prolonged battery and a barcode scanner to a cost terminal to medical gear. It launched a toolkit that developers can use to get began.

HMD additionally had a giant deal with repairability—it expects half of its units launched globally this yr to be repairable. However this summer season, it says it is going to have a system that dramatically reduces the variety of steps it takes to repair a cracked display screen.

Motorola Bends a Telephone, and Debuts Sensible Join

Flexible blower: Motorola bendable telephone idea can have a lot of viewing choices.

{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu

Late final yr at Lenovo’s Tech World occasion, Motorola unveiled a bendable idea telephone known as the Adaptive Show. I received an opportunity to mess around with it at MWC. It appears to be like and looks like its Razr folding telephones, besides as an alternative of getting a hinge that snaps the telephone closed exactly in half, you possibly can bend the entire thing backward.