https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/27/rating-the-big-smartphone-makers-at-mwc-2018/
This article gives good overview of smart phone maker announcements made by biggest manufacturers.
Based of this it seems that the years of big mobile innovations are over. Many years of business growth has slowed as people keep using their phones for longer time. And the announcements don’t seem to be able to change the feeling that smart phone business is getting mature and somewhat boring.
5G is coming in few years, but can it make any miracles?
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Mobile World Congress 2018: Don’t Expect 5G Service Anytime Soon
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/telecom/wireless/mobile-world-congress-2018-5g-isnt-for-you
This is, unquestionably, the year for 5G. It’s obvious from the sheer number of booths displaying 5G demos and announcements this year at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. There was also an overwhelming number of Internet of Things-related announcements, sure, but even many of those were about how 5G will enable new capabilities for IoT networks.
5G is coming this year—but it isn’t for you. Not yet.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Barcelona looks at the problems with the mobile phone market
Mobile phone companies and analysts have met this week in Barcelona for the annual Mobile World Congress. The fair has once again seen a huge number of new equipment, but most of the time has been taken for granted. MWC also shows that the mobile phone sector is not healthy.
Huawein CEO Richard Yu said at the fair that mobile phones should have a 10 percent market share in order to reach zero results. Making a profit requires a 15% stake. There are exactly two such companies in the world: Apple and Samsung.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7640&via=n&datum=2018-03-01_14:57:06&mottagare=31202
Tomi Engdahl says:
Few phone makers will survive industry’s brutal economics: Huawei
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-telecoms-mobileworld-huawei-phones/few-phone-makers-will-survive-industrys-brutal-economics-huawei-idUSKCN1GA01X
The smartphone industry is bound to consolidate as the heavy investments required to remain competitive mean that, in the long-run, only a handful of firms can make money, the consumer chief of China’s Huawei Technologies [HWT.UL] said on Sunday.
Richard Yu, chief executive of Huawei’s consumer business group, said anyone at this stage in the decade-old industry’s history that had less than 10 percent market share was losing money.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mobile World Congress 2018: 5G’s Killer App May Not Be an App at All
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/telecom/wireless/5gs-killer-app-may-not-be-an-app-at-all
Tomi Engdahl says:
In 2018 the headphone jack is a rare beast
https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/26/in-2018-the-headphone-jack-is-a-rare-beast/?utm_source=tcfbpage&sr_share=facebook
Mobile World Congress 2018
February 26 – March 1, 2018
In 2018 the headphone jack is a rare beast
Posted Feb 26, 2018 by Matt Burns (@mjburnsy)
The wireless industry is currently rolling out the latest and greatest at Mobile World Congress. Nineteen phones were announced around this industry event including the latest from Samsung, Sony, Nokia and LG. These are the phones that the manufacturers will push on consumers in 2018. The 3.5mm jack is available on the vast majority of the phones though the 3.5mm jack should only be considered standard equipment on mid-to-entry level phones — it’s disappearing from flagship phones at a rapid pace.
Out of the 19 phones announced at MWC 2018, 17 sport the classic 3.5mm headphone jack. It’s missing from these three models: Sony XZ2, Sony XZ2 Compact and the Nokia 8 Sirocco. Interestingly, these three phone’s predecessors included a 3.5mm jack.
Out of the flagship phones announced at MWC 2018, half include the 3.5mm
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vlad Savov / The Verge:
Best of MWC: Galaxy S9, demise of bezels, Vivo’s Apex concept phone, Lenovo Chromebooks; worst of MWC: iPhone X notch copycats, AR Emoji, LG’s rebadged “V30s”
The best and worst of Mobile World Congress 2018
The future has more notches than headphone jacks
https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/28/17055596/samsung-galaxy-s9-nokia-vivo-mwc-2018
Mobile World Congress 2018: what happened? Maybe it’s best to start with what didn’t happen: Huawei didn’t have a new flagship phone, LG rebadged its old flagship phone, and Motorola and HTC had no phones to show at all. The traditional deluge of new super-specced phones just wasn’t here as it usually is.
But that didn’t leave us with a boring show — far from it. Nokia reached back into the archives to revive another classic, Google’s hardware partners presented their first Android Go devices, and the pervasive buzzwords of 5G and AI were everywhere. There were even some cool laptops to look at.
Whether companies call them full-screen, all-screen, FullVision, or Infinity Displays, there’s no mistaking the fact that a modern phone in 2018 is most readily recognized by the scarcity of its bezels around the screen
With a new dual-aperture camera, a fingerprint reader now sanely position in the middle of the back, and the best and latest processors, the Galaxy S9 is a formidable giant that will tower over the Android phone industry for at least the rest of this year. Its similarities to the existing Galaxy S8 are a strength rather than a hindrance: that phone was one of the best-designed handsets last year and remains a class-leading device today.
HMD Global, the company exploiting the Nokia brand, has shown itself an expert in refining and updating classic models from the Nokia archive for the modern world. Pricing the 8110 at less than $100, the company gives you a surprising amount of advanced functionality to go with the familiar slider styling. This phone has LTE, Google Assistant and Google Maps, Twitter and Facebook apps, Snake (because it has to), and a promised standby time of 25 days.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Product Sampler from the 2018 Mobile World Congress
http://www.mwrf.com/components/product-sampler-2018-mobile-world-congress?NL=MWRF-001&Issue=MWRF-001_20180306_MWRF-001_173&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_2_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=15691&utm_medium=email&elq2=a6094cdfa7f4484794d5d19c49f1105b
Tomi Engdahl says:
MWC 2018 – Are we there yet? How long until we get to 5G?
https://www.redhat.com/blog/verticalindustries/mwc-2018-are-we-there-yet-how-long-until-we-get-to-5g/?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY
So, what’s all the buzz about this year? Not surprisingly, the hot topics on everyone’s tongues were 5G, edge clouds (aka mobile edge computing or MEC), artificial intelligence (AI), IoT, video, and blockchain. There were many other technologies pushing the boundaries of our minds like drones, facial recognition, and even virtual reality that enables robots to perform critical medical procedures (even surgery!) on patients many miles from their physicians.
So, amongst all of this frenzy of mobile devices and 5G, what was new from Red Hat at the conference? How does Red Hat support 5G? Red Hat has already showcased the open telco framework it developed to support 5G, and we used Mobile World Congress to demonstrate it for our customers and partners again this week. As communications service providers (CSPs) work diligently to improve their capabilities as digital service providers, the Red Hat open telco framework helps them build an agile, digital services platform and make that transition a reality.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mobile World Congress 2018: The Tangled Fate of Graphene and 5G
https://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/materials/graphene-and-5g-enable-the-commercial-aspirations-of-each-other
These two technologies have long been hyped, and proponents of each are finally starting to work together
Graphene has been heralded as a “wonder material” for well over a decade now, and 5G has been marketed as the next big thing for at least the past five years. Analysts have suggested that 5G could be the golden ticket to virtual reality and artificial intelligence, and promised that graphene could improve technologies within electronics and optoelectronics.
But proponents of both graphene and 5G have also been accused of stirring up hype. There now seems to be a rising sense within industry circles that these glowing technological prospects will not come anytime soon.
At Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona last month, some misgivings for these long promised technologies may have been put to rest, though, thanks in large part to each other. For the third year in a row, MWC hosted The Graphene Pavilion organized by The Graphene Flagship, the EU’s €1 billion, 10-year plan to make Europe the “Silicon Valley” of graphene
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Wireless World Converges at Mobile World Congress 2018
Promising products and critical concerns meet in Barcelona.
http://www.mwrf.com/community/wireless-world-converges-mobile-world-congress-2018?NL=MWRF-001&Issue=MWRF-001_20180403_MWRF-001_159&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=16378&utm_medium=email&elq2=e326e0f2a820412eaf74ac722e8de849
Barcelona, Spain became the focus of the mobile world once again as players from every part of the mobile/wireless ecosystem converged for the world’s largest mobile communications conference. The annual Mobile World Congress (MWC) provides companies large and small the opportunity to compete for the attention of potential customers, prospective partners, and media from around the world.
The Mobile World Congress organizers had defined eight core event themes that illustrate the comprehensive reach and impact of wireless technology and products:
The Fourth Industrial Revolution
Future Services Provider
The Network
The Digital Consumer
Tech in Society
Content & Media
Applied AI
Innovation