The yearly show that’s all about our favourite gadgets is just days away, starting in Barcelona on February 26. MWC or Mobile World Congress will see a massive meet-up of telecom companies and of course a show floor teeming with smartphones.
Just ahead of the MWC, Samsung is due to launch its flagships for the year, the S9 and S9 Plus. These are generally hotly anticipated because they do come with ‘something new.’ Nothing is announced yet but leaks are flying around, including from SamMobile, a site that is dedicated to all things Samsung. One feature Samsung may bring to its new phones will be stereo speakers, according to the site. And very welcome it would be as sound is one area where Samsung has lagged behind. Signalling the arrival of better sound, there is apparently to be a new take on Samsung’s famous Over the Horizon ringtone.
But most of all, the S9 (at least the Plus) will be about the camera. That much is clear from the “Camera Reimagined” tagline the company is teasing. There are said to be two 12 MP cameras on the Plus, a 6.2-inch device, These will switch between apertures of f/1.5 and f/2.4 while the front camera will be an 8 MP, which will focus on Portrait mode. Obviously the new phones will step up to the new Snapdragon 845 and be much faster, but it is currently thought that the phones will be a good update from the previous flagships rather than an entire overhaul. We may see yet thinner bezels, a repositioned fingerprint sensor and new 3D emojis like Apple’s.
The current top dog in India, Xiaomi, is rumoured to be launching its Mi Mix 2S, which is also stepping to Snapdragon 845 and may finally enter the artificial intelligence game. The device will stick to the thin bezels it first began and also come with a new Sony sensor on its camera, which is rumoured to have a dual pixel autofocus set-up.
Nokia may be coming up with more than one device perhaps called Nokia 9, Nokia 8 Pro, Nokia 7 and Nokia 4. Not too much is known about any innovation on these devices except for specs being bandied about.
A complete design overhaul is being rumoured for Sony, which, if it happens would be a welcome relief from the fixed boxy design the company has been going with for the past years. Going by a teaser video, people have concluded that curves may finally be coming to Sony’s phones, but this could easily be a misinterpretation. Sony could be talking about sound instead. Or just the shape of the glass. Asus will be coming up with its Zenfone 5 and variants, focusing on the camera and apparently taking a few tips from Apple for design, or so goes the rumour. Incredibly, LG may not reveal a flagship phone at this show, according to reports. But all that is known is that when it does come, it may be codenamed ‘Judy’ and come in June.