Mobile World Congress to Mark the Return of Nokia, Blackberry and More

Mobile World Congress which is the world's largest gathering for the mobile industry is going to see a lot of action this year. At CES 2017 - the first big tech event of the year – we witnessed very few smartphone announcements. However, at MWC all the major players from the smartphone industry are going to showcase their flagships. It will also mark the return of Nokia and Blackberry. Apart from smartphones, Mobile World Congress has also attracted industry heavyweights who share their views on the future of mobile technologies like 5G and chipsets.

Here's everything we can expect from the smartphone segment this year at MWC.

Samsung at MWC 2017

According to Twitter tipster @Ricciolo1, Samsung S8 and S8 Plus will be ready by MWC 2017 and will be present at the event. He added that the phones will not be showcased to a large audience, and will be unveiled later.

Samsung S8 will sport a 5.7-inch display while S8 Plus will be having a 6.2-inch display. He also suggests that there will be a fingerprint reader on the back of each phone, rather than under the glass on the front, as had been rumored previously. Samsung will be using either the Snapdragon 835 or Exynos 8895V, 6GB RAM, UFS 2.1 storage with 64GB base (with SD slot), IRIS scanners, water resistance, USB Type-C ports, and 3.5mm headphone jacks. It has also been confirmed that Samsung is working on its own version of AI-powered digital assistant Bixby that will be powered by the Viv software which was acquired by Samsung last year.

BlackBerry at MWC 2017

There are rumors that a new handset - codenamed Mercury – is going to be launched at MWC. However, the company unveiled the prototype of Mercury at CES this year.

The design is a treat for Blackberry fans as it brings the best of both worlds with QWERTY keyboard and touch interface in a candybar form, but runs on Android. The BlackBerry Mercury or DTEK70 is expected to be launched officially at MWC 2017.

Nokia at MWC 2017

Nokia will be making some kind of announcement on 26 February and has sent out a save the date for an MWC press conference.

Nokia’s first smartphone the Nokia 6 was a China exclusive. With the premium build and mid-range core spec, we don’t have any information whether it will be coming to other regions.

Other rumors from the tech community indicate that Nokia is going to launch its flagship Nokia P1 at MWC. More recently, a leak suggested this phone will be called the Nokia 8 and it boasts some impressive specifications.

HTC at MWC 2017

HTC is back in form with the HTC 10 and it was lauded for its front shooter camera. It recently released U-Play and U Ultra.

It is rumored that HTC’s new flagship device is called HTC Ocean, and there won’t be any physical buttons on the phone.

LG at MWC 2017

LG has already sent out invites for an event on February 26 at MWC. The invite hints at a large display size with a high pixel density, and it is expected to be the LG G6. The company has introduced few features of its upcoming flagship, and the LG G6 is expected to come with a 5.7-inch QHD+ display, waterproofing abilities, a big screen and Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor coupled with 6GB of RAM. Apart from this, it is expected that the company is going to adopt the new 'heat pipe' cooling technology commonly associated with laptops.

Motorola at MWC 2017

Motorola is expected to announce the Moto G5 and G5 Plus smartphones at Mobile World Congress and its specifications have already been leaked online.

In terms of specs, Moto G5 Plus is expected to feature a 5.5-inch full HD Super AMOLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection. Powered by a 2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC paired with Adreno 506 graphics, it has 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage expandable via microSD card.

On the camera front, G5 Plus will come with a 16-megapixel rear camera with dual-LED flash and a 5-megapixel front camera. The G5 Plus will run the most updated version of Android Nougat out-of-the-box.

Sony at MWC 2017

According to Xperia Blog, Sony is likely to unveil two devices at MWC. The company has already sent out an invite confirming their presence at MWC.

Recently, there were reports that Sony will unveil two smartphones powered by MediaTek Helio P20 MT6757 chipset. There is also a possibility that the company will unveil a successor to its mid-range Xperia XA.

Huawei at MWC 2017

Huawei received rave reviews for its flagship Huawei P9. The company has sent out press invitations for 26 February, saying a "flagship device" is being unveiled. It might be the Huawei P10 but we can’t confirm about the same. Apart from the smartphone, Huawei is planning to unveil a new flagship tablet for launch at Mobile World Congress according to a leak by Roland Quandt. According to Quandt, the device has just passed through Wi-Fi certifications.

Last year, the company launched MediaPad M3 with Kirin 950 chipset, along with 4GB of RAM, and either 32GB or 64GB of storage.