What phones will be announced at Mobile World Congress?
This Sunday marks the start of Mobile World Congress – one of the biggest dates of the year in the gadget calendar. But what can we expect to see?
The short answer is essentially everyone but Apple, but it does appear that Sunday will be a blockbuster day – with several major players letting us know about what they will be hawking for the next year.
Samsung Galaxy S6
Its a dead cert that Samsung will finally announce the Galaxy S6 – and the company has dropped a number of not-too-subtle hints about it.
The big expectation is that it will have a full metal unibody exterior, abandoning the plastic for which it has received a lot of criticism – but such a move could mean no more removable battery.
The display is expected to match the resolution of the Note 4 – running at 1440×2560 (4x720p – “Quad HD”) and be about 5″ big. Processor-wise we’re expecting a Quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A53 & Quad-core 1.9 GHz Cortex-A57 – with 3GB of RAM.
The rear camera is expected to get a bump up to 20MP, with the front camera up to 5MP.
And on the software side it should run Android Lollipop. But here’s hoping Samsung has at least a few surprises.
HTC One M9
The other big announcement on Sunday looks set to be from HTC, which will be announcing its new flagship that we expect to be called the HTC One M9.
It looks set to be very similar spec-wise to the S6 – same processor, same size screen (though it’ll on.y run at 1080×1920 – 1080p HD). It will also have 3GB of RAM.
Camera-wise, it looks set to have a 20.7MP camera on the rear, and a 4MP camera on the front, and of course, will run Lollipop too.
Sony Xperia Z4
We’re less certain that a new flagship from Sony will put in an appearance – though it does seem likely following various leaks about a tablet version of the Z4 at the show. Sony, unlike the annual product cycles of its competitors, has a track record for updating its phones every six months – so its about time too.
We’re expecting the Z4 to again be fairly similar – it will probably have a Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & Quad-core 2 GHz Cortex-A57 processor and a 5″ screen running a Quad-HD. RAM will apparently be bumped up to 4GB.
Like the M9, it will have a 20.7MP camera on the back – and like the S6 have a 5MP camera on the front.
Everyone Else
There will also be a billion other new Android devices on show, from manufacturers few people have ever heard of – and each one will be decided mid-range and yet described as “innovative” and “unique” by executives. Don’t worry – we’ll try to feign interest, but let’s face it – it is only going to be the flagships from Sony, Samsung and LG which matter.
