We love Mobile World Congress, the Tech Show in Barcelona that offers phones, tablets and wearables in abundance. But there was a striking trend in 2025 that we did not expect – concepts.
Usually companies such as Xiaomi, Honor, Samsung and others launch their newest and largest devices in different product categories. And although that happened again, it seemed to walk around the show halls, that there were just as many devices that you might never have in your hands.
At least one concept device was expected from Lenovo, because the company loves proof of concepts. Last year we saw a transparent screen laptop and this year we saw the Thinkbook turning around with its external folding screen and a solar energy-driven yoga laptop.
Chris Martin / Foundry
I thought that would be almost the fate, but almost every big tech brand showed out with wares in Barcelona had a kind of weird and crazy idea and it made it wandering between cabins much more interesting.
Two photography -oriented handsets stood out on the telephone side of the things. Xiaomi’s module optical system, which is much more exciting than the name suggests, with a magnetic snap-on lens and sensor, and the ultra-concept of Realme that has a built-in sensor and can handle traditional interchangeable lenses.
We are far from here as a trip to Tecnos Stand revealed that it had a Galaxy S25 Edge rival in the Spark Slim. It is only 5.75 mm thick compared to the 6.4 mm from the edge. It feels like a perfectly plausible handset to launch, especially when it surpasses a Samsung, but no, it is another concept.
Tecno did not stop there, because it was also expected to see a tri-fold to rival Huawei’s Mate XT and Samsung’s upcoming tri-folding that the Galaxy G Fold would be called. The Tecno version is a concept, but the Phantom Ultimate 2 is even thinner than Huawei’s at 11 mm when folded compared to Huawei’s 12.8 mm.
Speaking about Samsung, the representation of the company’s company, had a whole selection of concepts. Some of them were seen in CES 2025 in January, but there were a lot of fresh from the lab.
The most interesting thing about all was a device that was best described as if Nintendo shrunk the switch console and was folded in the middle. A gametet phone with special controls, which does not need a case because you just fold it when you’re done? Yes please, Samsung.
The company also showed off with a flexible suitcase as a kind of knotty folding tablet and a Galaxy Z Flip -style phone with not one hinge, but two. Unfortunately we did not see this personally, because it was reportedly scratched and taken from the stands.
You may think that it was for concepts at MWC, but we are not completely ready. Although not visible on the show itself, Infinix revealed two concept telephones at Show Stoppers.
One has solar panels on the back for charging in the sun or a strong enough light source, while the other has a color -changing Eink screen at the rear.
We have surprised and surprised the show about these concepts. It is certainly a change from another mid-range Android telephone with perfectly fine specifications and a boring design.
However, it is bittersweet, since many of these devices will undoubtedly never see the daylight. It would not surprise us if we see that some of the technology arrive in future products, especially when those such as the Xiaomi Snap-on-camera are already quite polished and functional.
I hope we see it on MWC 2026 on the Xiaomi 16 series together with some of the other funky devices that we saw this year. For now, here are our best MWC 2025 prices.
