Mobile World Congress : What smartphones to expect

The GSMA Mobile World Congress (MWC) is the world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry, and incorporates a thought-leadership conference featuring prominent executives representing global mobile operators, device manufacturers, technology providers, vendors, and content owners. Until 2006, the event took place in Cannes, and was known as 3GSM World. In 2014, GSMA rebranded the event, under the Mobile World Congress banner, as "Mobile World Congress Shanghai." In 2016, GSMA announced the creation of Mobile World Congress Americas,  in partnership with CTIA, to bring an extension of the event to North America in 2017.

The GSMA Mobile World Congress usually takes place in February, but occasionally occurs during the first week of March. The location is the Fira Gran Via venue in Barcelona, Spain. Annual attendance is generally more than 100,000 people. Attendees represent more than 200 countries from across the globe. In 2019, addressing the expansion of the event's focus beyond just mobile technology, Mobile World Congress evolved the event's name to MWC Barcelona, retaining the familiar acronym, while placing less emphasis on "mobile" to reflect the broadening scope of communications today. GSMA MWC19 Barcelona is scheduled for 25 to 28 February 2019. Events in Shanghai and the Americas are also now referred to as MWC Shanghai and MWC Los Angeles, and the Americas regional event is slated to remain in Los Angeles for 2020.