The world’s biggest mobile phone fair throws open its doors in Barcelona, Spain, today with the sector looking to artificial intelligence (AI) to try to reverse declining sales.
Phone makers are to focus on the unique AI-powered tools of their latest handsets at the four-day Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, where 95,000 attendees and 2,400 exhibitors from around the world are expected to attend.
Telecom operators are expected to use the event to explore how AI can help improve their operations, from boosting security to providing better customer service.
Photo: AFP
AI “is clearly democratizing and is now embedded everywhere: in phones, in devices, in networks,” said Thomas Husson, principal analyst at Forrester Research, adding that it is a reviving innovation in the sector.
The event comes as global smartphone shipments declined 3.2 percent to 1.17 billion units last year. It was the second consecutive yearly decline, as consumers took longer to upgrade their devices due to a lack of innovations, high inflation and economic uncertainties, International Data Corp (IDC) said.
However, shipments rose 8.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year to 326.1 million units which suggests “momentum is moving quickly toward recovery,” IDC said in a report on Jan. 15.
Google and South Korean giant Samsung Electronics Co have both recently unveiled new flagship handsets with flashy AI-power tools such as advanced photo-editing and easier online search which they are expected to highlight.
Samsung is planning to unveil its first wearable smart ring as part of its health lineup at the MWC, the South Korean firm said yesterday.
The company is to publicly display the Galaxy Ring for the first time after teasing it last month at the Galaxy S24 smartphone series launch in California. The Galaxy Ring offers users more personalized and seamless experiences backed by advances in AI, Samsung said in a statement.
Visitors at the MWC would also be able to see new health features on Galaxy Watch6 series paired with the Galaxy S24, prior to public availability later this year, Samsung said.
The Galaxy Ring’s official launch is expected later this year.
Other smaller handset makers such as China’s Honor Terminal Co (榮耀) are set to unveil new devices at the event. Honor’s new flagship phone features a camera with AI motion-sensing capabilities that can detect and automatically take a picture of a moving object at the best moment.
AI had already “kicked off” before the MWC last year, but “a year later we have a much better idea of how operators and the mobile industry can take advantage of it,” said Peter Jarich, head of intelligence at telecoms industry group GSMA, the event’s organizer.
Among the 1,100 scheduled speakers are Dell Technologies Inc founder and CEO Michael Dell, and Microsoft Corp president Brad Smith.
Aside from AI, discussions are expected to focus on the consolidation of the European telecoms market after the EU on Tuesday last week approved the merger of the Spain operations of French telecoms giant Orange SA with its Spanish rival Masmovil Group.
There is also likely to be debate about whether big tech should contribute to the cost of deploying the networks their products rely on, a notion commonly known as “fair share.”
The annual congress, which has been held in Barcelona since 2006, initially focused on phones but has since expanded to include all sorts of connected devices such as drones and robots. Among the more eye-catching devices which are to be on display is the working model of what US firm Alef Aeronautics Inc said is the world’s first “real” flying car and a lifelike robotic dog by Tecno Mobile that can understand voice commands.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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