MWC 2015: news and reviews from the biggest phone show of the year

MWC is quite possibly the biggest yearly event in the mobile world. At MWC 2014 for example we saw the Samsung Galaxy S5, Sony Xperia Z2 and a plethora of other smartphones, tablets and smartwatches.

MWC 2015 is expected to be every bit as big and there are plenty of rumblings of what might be on show. It's still only the press day, and we've already seen the launch of big-name handsets including the HTC One M9, Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge in Barcelona.

They are showstoppers on their own, but there are lots of other things going on in the mobile world too. Here's what we know so far.

Sony

It's looking increasing unlikely that we'll be seeing the Sony Xperia Z4 at MWC 2015, with multiple rumors now pointing to a launch later in the year.

That's further supported by reports from Xperia Blog that Sony won't have a formal press conference at MWC.

Sony will have a booth at the show and we're bound to see something from the company.

For one thing we're due an update to the 10.1-inch Xperia Z2 Tablet, plus there's a chance we'll see another Android Wear smartwatch to join the SmartWatch 3 in Sony's ranks, and there's always the possibility of some new mid-range handsets.

LG

Another possible flagship? Well, no. Not by the looks of it. Like Sony, it appears LG will hold the launch of its LG G4 until later in the year, avoiding the flurry of announcements which will be made in Barcelona.

Last year the LG G3 was launched at its own unique event in London, and with a potentially crowded line up of new devices at MWC it makes sense for the Korean firm to do its own thing afterwards.

LG has already launched three Android Wear smartwatches, and we got our hands on the LG G Watch Urbane and G Watch Urbane LTE in Barcelona. We'd say LG probably won't roll out another at the show - but we're not ruling it out completely.

Microsoft

Last year Nokia caused a storm at MWC by launching handsets running a heavily modified version of Google's Android operating system.

The sad news is Nokia is unlikely to be at MWC 2015, and if it is its presence will be much, much smaller. On a positive note Microsoft will be taking over what was the Nokia booth, exuding all things Lumia and Windows Phone.

In fact it's doing one better, because as well as having a booth Microsoft has also announced a press conference for March 2.

Microsoft invite

There's not a huge amount of news regarding exactly what will be on show, but it's been a while since the flagship Nokia Lumia 930 was launched, so it's about time for a new hero for the Windows Phone brand.

Nokia Lumia 930

The Lumia 930 is beginning to show its age

Talk about a successor to the 41MP Nokia Lumia 1020 refuses to die down, so we'll be on the lookout for another powerful cameraphone too. Then again there are also reports that Microsoft won't bring out any major new hardware until later in the year.

So what will the press conference be about? Our guess is more Windows 10 for phones information, coupled perhaps with some mid-range or low-end handset announcements.

We're also hearing mutterings that Microsoft may be readying a new wearable which could be shown off in Barcelona.

Kane Fulton
Kane has been fascinated by the endless possibilities of computers since first getting his hands on an Amiga 500+ back in 1991. These days he mostly lives in realm of VR, where he's working his way into the world Paddleball rankings in Rec Room.
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