Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2024 has come and gone, leaving us with a flood of smartphone announcements. From new devices launching soon to wild concepts that may never see the light of day, it’s the place to be if you’re a phone geek.
We got a look at some of the hottest new phones during the show, and these are our picks for the very best ones.
Tecno Pova 6 Pro
If you love a phone with a crazy name and equally insane features, then the Tecno Pova 6 Pro is definitely one to check out.
The Tecno Pova 6 Pro has a truly unique design that reminds us of the Nothing Phone. Though it’s not transparent like Nothing’s devices, it has a fresh sense of style thanks to the distinctive pattern on the back and the very green Comet Green color that is sure to turn heads. There are even mini-LED lights on the back of the camera module, which will activate when a notification or call comes through (or you can link it with PUBG for extra flashiness).
There is a beastly 6,000mAh battery inside the Tecno Pova 6, which is one of the biggest we’ve seen in a smartphone ever. That means you get insane battery life, with a single charge lasting at least two full days of use. It has a 70-watt wired charger, so it isn’t a slouch when it comes to charging up either.
You get a 6.78-inch AMOLED Full HD resolution display with a 120Hz refresh rate, but it is lacking in the automatic brightness department. Inside, you’ll find a MediaTek 6080 processor and 12GB RAM, which is decent. Tecno’s HiOS Android interface matches up with Android 14, and this time around, there is less bloatware and fewer pointless apps and widgets preloaded.
Lastly, don’t be fooled by what appears to be a triple-lens camera on the back. It only has a 108MP main lens, a 2MP fixed focus camera, and an “AI camera” that collects ambient light. They’re interesting choices, and the photo quality could vary wildly because of it.
The Tecno Pova 6 Pro is all over the place, but in a fun way that we don’t really see with phones anymore.
Honor Magic 6 Pro
The Honor Magic 6 Pro will arrive globally. Honor is pushing AI capabilities, playing with impressive camera tech, and even letting you control your phone with your eyes. It’s a lot.
There’s a large 6.8-inch LTPO display with a quad-curve design. It has support for Dolby Vision, 4320Hz PWM dimming for better eye care, and can reach up to 5,000 nits of peak brightness, which surpasses even the OnePlus 12’s 4,500 nits. The screen also has Honor’s Nanocrystal Shield for improved durability.
The camera module on the Honor Magic 6 Pro features an interesting cushion-shaped bump, and the back has a leather finish that feels comfortable to hold. It has Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip with 12GB RAM and 512GB storage. The camera features an impressive 180MP periscope telephoto sensor with 2.5x optical zoom and up to 100x digital zoom. The main and ultrawide cameras are 50MP. A 50MP selfie camera is on the front, and it also has a 3D time of flight sensor for improved facial recognition.
Software-wise, the Honor Magic 6 Pro uses MagicOS 8.0 based on Android 14, and it brings Magic Capsule and Magic Portal for a more personalized and intuitive experience. Magic Portal is an AI tool that is geared to “understand user messaging and behavior, streamlining complex tasks in a single-step process.” Magic Portal is eye-tracking tech that allows you to control your phone with your eyes.
Xiaomi 14 Ultra
Xiaomi has launched its top-tier Xiaomi 14 Ultra. Unfortunately, this won’t be available in the U.S., but it will be available in Europe for 1,499 euros ($1,624), which is a pretty penny. If you live in a market where it’ll be available, it looks like the real deal.
On the specs front, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra impresses with a 6.73-inch OLED curved display with a 3200 x 1440 pixel resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate that reaches up to 3,000 nits of peak brightness. The inside packs in a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip with either 12GB or 16GB RAM and storage ranging from 256GB to 1TB. The battery is 5,000mAh, and it has 90W wired and 80W wireless charging speeds.
But the most impressive part of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra is the Leica-branded camera. The back mimics the design of a classic leather-wrapped 35mm camera (it’s vegan leather), which makes sense given the Leica branding. This is a photography-focused phone that brings back the “Professional Camera Kit” with two parts: the case that adds a mounting ring around the camera bump and a clip-on camera grip attachment. The mounting ring allows you to attach a lens cover or camera filter directly to the bump. The attachment will add a 1,500mAh battery and physical camera controls.
The camera on the phone features a six-blade variable aperture. That means, like a real camera, there is a tiny six-blade mechanical iris in the main lens, which can open and close to let you change the aperture of the shot you’re taking. The main camera sensor is a 1-inch 50MP Sony LYT–900, which is one of the biggest and best smartphone camera sensors on the market. The other three rear cameras are all 50MP Sony IMX858 sensors for wide-angle, 3.2x telephoto, and 5x telephoto lenses.
Preorders for the Xiaomi 14 Ultra are already open, and the phone will ship on March 15.
OnePlus 12R Genshin Impact Edition
OnePlus unveiled a special limited-edition Genshin Impact variant of its OnePlus 12R. This fun design focuses on Keqing from Genshin Impact, and it’s one of the most beautiful phones we’ve seen in a while.
The exterior design of the hardware is stunning. It sports an Electro Violet theme with a violet back panel featuring etched silvery white motifs and accents. But the customization also extends into the software side, with a customized version of OxygenOS 14 with stylized app icons, themed charging and fingerprint unlock animations, and an exclusive always-on display. Each time the phone is unlocked, you get a different Keqing visual.
What also sets the OnePlus 12R Genshin Impact Edition apart from the regular OnePlus 12R, aside from the design, are some new gaming features. It has new optimizations that are specifically tailored for gaming, so you get accelerated game loading speeds, reduced wait times, better and more stable data connections, and less latency.
The OnePlus 12R Genshin Impact Edition comes in a collectible box with a ton of goodies to appeal to all Genshin Impact fans. There are collectible buttons and pins, a display case, a protective phone case featuring Keqing artwork, a violet charging adapter and USB-C cable, and a stiletto-shaped SIM tray ejector.
You can preorder the OnePlus 12R Genshin Impact Edition right now for $650 ($870 Canadian). The phone will launch on March 21.
Tecno Phantom Ultimate Concept
While the Tecno Phantom Ultimate was originally announced last August, it was shown off in person for the first time at MWC 2024.
The Tecno Phantom Ultimate is a concept of a rollable phone that expands sideways to increase the display from 6.55 inches to 7.11 inches in a little over a second. This is achieved with a single-drive motor mechanism that expands the phone at the push of a button. The button is located on the top right edge of the phone.
When the Tecno Phantom Ultimate is rolled, it acts like any other basic 6.55-inch smartphone. Additionally, the unrolled portion of the screen is visible on the back of the phone and acts as a secondary display to show the time, date, and other information.
The 7.11-inch display is an on-cell LTPO AMOLED panel with a 2296 x 1596 pixel resolution and a pixel density of 388 pixels per inch. The thickness of the device is 9.33mm at the base, and according to Tecno, it can still be easily held with one hand. A layer of protective glass is on the sliding area, and the back is textured for additional grip. There’s no word if the Phantom Ultimate will ever hit store shelves, but it is an exciting glimpse of what a real rollable phone could look like.
Motorola Adaptive Display Concept
Last October, Motorola teased an “adaptive display concept” device, which is basically a phone that you can bend into different positions and even be worn as a giant smartwatch. At MWC 2024, Motorola demoed this fancy concept in person, and we got a chance to play around with it.
When it’s flat, this looks like any other phone with a 6.9-inch OLED panel. It’s plastic, but it actually looks pretty decent. When you take a look at the back, that’s when you know there’s something different about this phone that makes it unlike any other handset out there.
The back is covered with an orange fabric with ridges all over it. This helps with the flexibility of the device, as you can bend it in a few different ways. For example, you can bend it into a tent or just fold the bottom part like a stand. Both of these positions prop the device up on a flat surface and let you see the screen.
But the most interesting part of this adaptive display concept is the fact that you can wear it on your wrist! For this to happen, you need to wear a metal bracelet that has a magnetic center. This lines up with one of two magnetic bars on the phone’s back, and once it’s in place, then you can bend it around your wrist. Even with a lot of movement, the phone surprisingly stays on well. If the magnets aren’t lined up properly, though, then it could flop off of your arm.
Once the phone is worn on your wrist, the top portion of the display is like the cover screen on the Motorola Razr Plus. You get 4.6 inches of screen to work with for widgets and even full apps.
This is very much still a concept, and who knows if this will actually end up on the market. But it’s still cool to see and could be a glimpse at the future of foldables.
HMD Fusion
HMD Global is best-known for making phones that have the Nokia name on them, but at MWC 2024, it revealed its bold plans for the future with HMD Fusion.
What is HMD Fusion? It’s the company’s concept for a truly modular phone. With a base HMD Fusion phone, one could equip it with Smart Outfits to enhance functionality. But the kicker is that HMD has opened up this toolkit so that anyone can develop these outfits. Examples include accessories like barcode scanners and directional microphones, but they can also extend into batteries and complex medical devices.
HMD will be launching HMD Fusion in the summer along with its first HMD Original devices.
The Barbie Phone
Yes, you read that right. HMD revealed that it is teaming up with Mattel to create the Barbie Flip Phone.
What will be special about the Barbie Flip Phone, aside from the fact that it will be pink and probably sparkly? It’s not going to be a full smartphone, but rather, a feature phone. This plays into HMD Global’s strength as a manufacturer, and it has a link to digital detox.
The Barbie Phone will have a classic form factor and, of course, be pink. The company did not reveal any other details or specifications for the device, because then that would be the focus. HMD has a story to tell with this phone, and it plans to do that closer to launch.
The Barbie Phone will launch sometime in the summer.
