MWC 2025 wrap-up

This never gets old – MWC week brings a high concentration of new launches, big strategy announcements and all sorts of cutting-edge concepts that may show the path to the future or may never be seen again.

We were in Barcelona as always and got to experience the launches – and the new devices – firsthand. Here we will summarize all that happened this week, organized by brand.

By the way, the results for the MWC 2025 Awards were announced a few days ago. Google took home Best Smartphone (Pixel 9 Pro) and Breakthrough Device Innovation (for its Gemini AI). Xiaomi scored the Best in Show award (Xiaomi 15 Ultra), while Tecno grabbed the Best Connected Consumer Device Award (Tecno Mega Mini Gaming G1).

Table of Contents:

Apple
Doogee
HMD
Honor
Infinix
Meizu
Nothing
nubia
Realme
Samsung
TCL
Tecno
Ulefone
Xiaomi
Misc

Apple

Okay, so Apple wasn’t at the MWC, but the announcements happened this week and are too important to miss. The company unveiled new high-end pieces of silicon, the M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips, which can be found inside the Mac Studio – the most powerful Mac made to date (there’s no word on a new Mac Pro). As it turns out, the M3 Ultra is only marginally faster than the M4 Max.

The new tablets are perhaps more relevant to most of our readers, but they don’t feature new silicon. The iPad (2025) uses the A16 chip, so it misses out on Apple Intelligence (the new iPad mini got the A17 Pro, which can do AI). This is the only new iPad without AI support, which is a weird segmentation move by Apple.

Apple iPad (2025) • iPad Air (2025) • MacBook Air (M4) • Mac Studio

Apple upgraded the iPad Air to M2 chips last year, now those are getting swapped out for M3 models instead. And that’s the only upgrade – unless you count the updated Magic Keyboard with a larger trackpad and a row of function keys.

While the iPad Air missed out on an M4 chip, the new MacBook Air (13” and 15”) did not. They are up to twice as fast as older M1-powered Airs and support two external displays.

Doogee

Doogee had a busy week with six new phones, including the Pure 70 and 70 Pro – the brand’s first phones with quad-curved displays. There was also the Doogee V Max Play with a 22,000mAh battery and a camping light, plus the slender (by Doogee standards) 10.5mm Blade GT Ultra. The Doogee M60 resurrects an interesting concept – a smartphone with a built-in projector (854 x 480px, 76 ANSI lumens).

Doogee V Max Play • Blade GT Ultra • Doogee P70 • Doogee smartwatches

The company also launched two LTE-connected tablets and a series of entry-level smartwatches.

HMD

HMD focused on younger fans with the Fusion X1, which has Xplora parental controls pre-installed. The phone itself is a pretty standard entry-level device, but there is also a Barca Fusion special edition for fans of the football club.

HMD Fusion X1 and Barca Fusion

As its deal to use the Nokia brand has come to an end, HMD also re-launched several feature phones under its own brand, plus a special edition of the 3210, also styled after FC Barcelona.

Honor

Honor unveiled its first Ultra watch, which is also its first with ECG. Additionally, it launched the Honor Pad V9 and the Earbuds Open globally.

Honor Watch 5 Ultra • Honor Pad V9 • Honor Earbuds Open

Honor announced that all Magic devices will get seven years of OS updates. Emphasis on the “years”, it’s not quite clear how many actual updates that means.

The company is focusing on AI with a 5-year $10 billion plan to develop a larger ecosystem of AI devices. This is called the Honor Alpha Plan – you can read a bit more about it here.

Infinix

Infinix brought the Note 50 series to Barcelona. Both are 4G-only models with 6.78” OLED displays and 144Hz refresh rate and 5,200mAh batteries and a kind of magnetic charging.

Infinix Note 50 • Infinix Note 50 Pro • Infinix Zero Mini concept

The company is experimenting with tri-fold devices, but going another way than the competition – the Infinix Zero Mini concept is a flip-style tri-fold device, making it very, very tiny when fully closed. It’s an interesting idea with potential, it could, for example, be used as an action camera.

Meizu

Someone snapped a photo of the Meizu 22 Pro on the grounds of the MWC and later the company confirmed to us that this will actually be called the “Meizu 20” and will launch in April.

Meizu 21 Pro and Meizu 22 • Meizu Note 22 • mblu 22 • mblu 22 Pro

As for phones that were actually announced at the MWC, the company launched the Note 22, mblu 22 and mblu 22 Pro.

Nothing

Unlike last year, Nothing actually attended MWC this time and it brought its first phones with telephoto cameras, the Nothing Phone (3a) and (3a) Pro. The latter is also its first with a periscope (50MP 3x), while the vanilla model only got a regular tele lens (50MP 2x).

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro and Phone (3a)

We published a fairly detailed hands-on review for both phones, but we also have the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro at the office now so expect a full review soon.

nubia

Nubia launched a pair of budget gaming phones, plus sequels to its flip foldable and the budget camera phones in the Focus series. The Neo 3 gaming phones are powered by Unisoc chipsets (T8300 for the Neo 3 and T9100 for the Neo 3 GT).

nubia Neo 3 and nubia Neo 3 GT

The nubia Flip2 aims to be one of the cheapest flip phones out there, starting at €700 for an 8/128GB model. The nubia Focus 2 is loaded with a 108MP camera and there is an Ultra version with a larger 1/1.55” sensor, though details on those two are still pretty scarce.

Realme

After launches in China and India, the Realme 14 Pro and 14 Pro+ are now in Europe at €430 and €530, respectively. We had already reviewed the Pro+, but this was our first encounter with the Realme 14 Pro, so check out our hands-on for more details.

Realme 14 Pro+ • Realme 14 Pro • Realme 14 Pro Lite • Interchangeable Lens Concept

In addition, the company unveiled a new device, the Realme 14 Pro Lite. Yes, Pro Lite. It’s as tough as the other two (IP69, MIL-STD-810H), but it carries lower price tag and its hardware has been dialed back.

Realme showed off a cool concept phone with interchangeable lenses and we got to try out the two available lenses: 73mm (around 3x) and 230mm (10x) that attach over the 1-inch sensor. Xiaomi had a different take on interchangeable lenses, don’t miss that one too.

Samsung

Samsung’s attention was on the A-series, with the Galaxy A56, A36 and A26. All three now promise 6 OS updates, which is better than many flagships. Plus, US fans will actually get to buy the A56 this year. The A56 and A36 also launched in India.

Samsung Galaxy A56 • Galaxy A36 • Galaxy A26

Meanwhile, Samsung announced that One UI 7 beta will be out this month for a number of devices, stable One UI 7 is expected in April. The Galaxy Z Fold6 and Z Flip6 received One UI 7 beta this week in select markets.

TCL

TCL unveiled two 60-series phones and detailed the Nxtpaper 11 Plus tablet at the MWC. The phones are a pair of entry-level 5G devices, while the tablet promises improved visual clarity while maintaining 100% sRGB coverage.

TCL 60 SE Nxtpaper 5G • TCL 60 R 5G • TCL Nxtpaper 11 Plus

Tecno

Tecno has been on an AI-bend (like many other companies) and it kicked things off with smart-glasses with a built-in AI assistant. In phone news, Tecno launched the Camon 40 series, alongside new laptops, watches and buds. Check out our Tecno Camon 40 series hands-on for more details on the phones.

Smart glasses • Camon 40 series • Megabook S14 • Spark Slim concept

The Tecno Megabook S14 is a lightweight (899g/1.98lbs) 14” laptop, Tecno’s first with an OLED display (120Hz) and a choice between Snapdragon X Elite chip or Intel Core Ultra 5 or 7 processors. Interestingly, there is an optional External Graphics Dock with an Nvidia GPU.

Both Samsung and Apple are working on slim phones and so is Tecno. We went hands-on with the Tecno Spark Slim concept device, which measures just 5.75mm thick, despite having a fairly large 5,200mAh battery.

The company also showed off a 2MP SpectraVision camera that will assist other cameras in adjusting color rendering.

Ulefone

Ulefone had three rugged phones to show. The Ulefone Armor 34 Pro is a beast with a 25,500mAh battery, a built-in mobile projector (150 lumens) and a 1,200 lumen flashlight. The Armor 33 Pro went another direction and is equipped with a 3.4” LCD on the back and a 118dB speaker.

Ulefone Armor 34 Pro • Armor 33 Pro • Armor Mini 4

The Ulefone Armor Mini 4 isn’t what you think – it’s a rugged feature phone. We don’t see a lot of those lately. It has a 2,100mAh battery and hands-free FM radio.

Xiaomi

Xiaomi used the MWC stage to launch the Xiaomi 15 and 15 Ultra globally. The camera on the Ultra already impressed in our review. We also reviewed the small Xiaomi 15, which is more of an iterative upgrade.

Xiaomi 15 Ultra • Xiaomi 15 • Xiaomi Modular Optical System concept

Xiaomi has been dabbling with removable lenses, but the Xiaomi Modular Optical System concept isn’t that – instead, it’s more like Sony’s old lens-style cameras. A phone (based on the Xiaomi 15) uses pogo pins to control and power a mostly self-contained camera system with its own lens and sensor. Specifically, the device featured a 100MP Light Fusion X Micro Four Thirds sensor (even bigger than 1-inch sensors in flagship phones) and a 35mm lens with a variable aperture (f/1.4 to f/11) plus a manual focus ring.

Misc

Deutsche Telekom showed off an AI Phone powered by Perplexity AI. It is slated to launch in key European markets in 2026. Instead of Android, this runs a custom Magenta AI operating system and uses the Perplexity Assistant instead of a traditional app-based user interface.

Deutsche Telekom’s AI Phone