95,000 visitors, 25% Asian: Mobile World Congress back with much more than telecoms

The world's largest wireless industry trade show, Mobile World Congress (MWC), is back in Barcelona between Monday and Thursday in Fira Gran Via exhibition center.

Despite its name, the global event is no longer just about phones: six out of ten visitors will not be related to the mobile or telecoms industries, but to others such as transport, finance, logistics or videogames.

Self-driving and flying cars, transparent laptops, state of the art smartphones

Indeed, MWC is now all about technology in general. Its motto, 'Future First', is just a hint on the hottest topics to expect throughout the week: the deployment of 5G, digitalization, robotics, artificial intelligence or sustainable mobility, as well as cloud computing and the commercial uses of VR, augmented reality and mixed reality.

The biggest tech companies in the world are expected to feature, including Google, Amazon, Qualcomm, Meta, IBM, Microsoft and HP.

Some of them are expected to present their newest products: new smartphones such as Xiaomi 14 Ultra, Honor Magic 6 Pro and the foldable Motorola Glory are set to draw the attention of many, as well as the possible launch of the phone with the most powerful battery in the world.

Other gadgets beyond phones will also launch in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, where the exhibition center is located just outside Barcelona: Lenovo's semitransparent laptop, Xiaomi's self-driving electric car SU7, or Alef Aeronautics' flying car.

Falling short of pre-pandemic attendance figures

The economic impact for Barcelona is expected to surpass that of last year, €461 million. Also, around 95,000 people are expected to attend, a figure that will fall short of the all-time high, set in 2019 with 109,000, but at the same time it will be the most successful post-pandemic edition by far, since 60,000 entered the trade show in 2022, and 88,500 did so in 2023.

Indeed, organizers believe that the 2019 figure will only be surpassed when a new hall in the exhibition center which is in the works is finished in 2026.

One in four visitors will be Asian, with Japanese and Chinese professionals set to have a significant presence, with companies including China Telecom, YOFC, AliPAy, and KDDI.

Record number of Catalan companies

Catalan companies will also be present, with 360 firms, and the Catalonia stand dedicating a section to supercomputing – the Barcelona Supercomputing Center and its newest machine, MareNostrum 5, is one of the crown jewels of the country's tech industry. Indeed, this entity will show the prototype of a digital twin of the heart.

Hall 6 will be called Trip to the Future, with self-driving drones using AI, systems that analyze skin in real-time, technology connected to the human brain with chips, or one of the congress' top highlights: the first electric flying car, by Alef Aeronautics. An IA fashion lab with the Catalan brand Desigual will be another proposal, launched by the Mobile World Capital foundation.

Conferences, startups and afterwork

On top of the stands and gadgets, MWC 2024 will also include several conferences. For instance, a panel with telecoms companies including Telefónica, Codafone, Orange and Chine Mobile, or talks by Microsoft's president, Brad Smith, the head of Dell, Michael Dell, Physics Nobel Price Konstantin Serfeevich Novoselo or Catalan former basketballer Pau Gasol.

This edition of the show will also bring Four Years from Now (4yfn), a section dedicated to startups, and Beat Barcelona, an afterwork area in the congress between Halls 6 and 7.