Chinese phone brands are carrying the torch for Europe’s biggest mobile show

Photo by LLUIS GENE/AFP via Getty Images

Next week sees Mobile World Congress return to Barcelona, two years after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the world’s biggest mobile phone trade show, and one year after the show took place without many of its largest exhibitors in attendance. Not everyone is making a return to this year’s in-person event (Sony, Lenovo, and some media outlets including The Verge aren’t attending) but it almost feels like the show is back to full strength.

But it’s also an event that’s going to show off exactly how much the smartphone industry has shifted in recent years. As it stands, all the show’s biggest hardware announcements appear likely to come from Chinese brands like Oppo, Honor, TCL, Xiaomi-sub-brand Poco, and Huawei, rather...

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