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MWC Barcelona 2026: All the New Tech, Phones, Wearables and AI We Expect to See

This year’s Mobile World Congress starts Monday and will be packed with reveals from Xiaomi, Honor, Nvidia and more.

Every year, the moment we witness the very earliest signs of spring, CNET takes its cue to decamp to Barcelona for Mobile World Congress.

This is the world’s most important mobile show, and one of the most exciting events in the tech calendar. This year, we’re sending a bigger team to bring you all the news from the show as it happens.

It’s set to be a bonanza of new phones and wearables, with the odd robot thrown in for good measure. Sure, some of the fun tech we see at MWC never makes it out into the wider world, but we’ve also seen some of our most beloved tech debut at the show over the years — so expect a little of both.

Big themes are set to include AI and 6G, and with keynotes from SpaceX and Qualcomm, we’ll no doubt get a solid glimpse of the future of mobile. With Gemini in everything and satellite dominance on the horizon, it’s an exciting time for the industry. 

Here’s more of what we expect to see.

What are the key dates for MWC?

MWC 2026 is set to run from March 2 to 5, although we’ll be in town a couple of days beforehand to report on some of the big launch events scheduled for this weekend. Don’t miss Xiaomi’s launch event on Feb. 28 and Honor’s event on March 1.

How to watch along

No matter how far away you live from Spain, there’s no need to feel like you’re missing out. The best place for all the latest MWC news is on our CNET live blog. 

We’ve been attending this show for decades (this is MWC’s 20th year in Barcelona, by the way), and we have a team of experienced reporters and reviewers on the ground. 

We’ll show you everything we deem interesting and important, and we’re not just admiring new products from afar. We’re touching, tinkering with and trying not to drop them, so be sure to follow us across Bluesky, Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube, too.

What phones to expect at MWC 2026

For the past few years, Chinese phone-makers have dominated MWC, and 2026 looks to be no different.

The first big phone launch event is scheduled for 6 a.m. PT Saturday, Feb. 28, when we expect Xiaomi to unveil its latest camera-focused flagship. We loved the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, and the 14 Ultra before it, so we’re excited to see what the company has in store for us. A teaser image hints at its partnership with premium camera brand Leica and promises a «new wave of imagery.»

Next up, we have Honor on Sunday, March 1, when the company has said it will unveil its Magic V6 phone, alongside the MagicPad 4 and MagicBook Pro 14. Perhaps more exciting still, Honor has said it will give us a first glimpse of a working version of its Robot Phone, and will also unveil a humanoid robot at its event.

For other phone-makers, MWC is likely to serve as more of a victory lap for its existing devices — particularly Samsung, which held its own event in San Francisco this week to unveil the flagship S26 series. Motorola will be in town, likely showing off its Razr, which just like the Samsung Galaxy TriFold, has yet to be seen much in Europe.

On the whole, MWC 2026 is likely to be a big show for foldable phones, which, according to Ben Wood, CMO and chief analyst at CCS Insight, «is now becoming quite a mature category.» 

Another major trend in the phone space is likely to be a focus on batteries, particularly silicon carbon-based tech, Wood said in an MWC preview session. «We’re expecting to see phones with some of the biggest batteries we’ve seen for a long time, [with] fast charging — perhaps 300-watt charging — being introduced,» he added.

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What other tech to expect at MWC 2026

After the early flops that were the Humane AI Pin and the Rabbit R1, we’re seeing more companies moving to jump on the wearable AI bandwagon. We expect to see a number of devices and demos pop up at MWC — perhaps trying to beat OpenAI and Jony Ive to the punch.

This will include AI- and AR-based glasses, said CCS Insight analyst Ben Hatton during the firm’s briefing session. «We are expecting to see a huge number of glasses on show this year, not just from Meta, but also from the smaller players, [like] TCL and Oppo, looking to take a slice of the pie,» he said.

One of the key challenges for these companies will be differentiation, Hatton said. «Ultimately, there’s still a long way to go before these become generally mass market products,» he added, pointing out that at this stage, compelling use cases are still a bit thin on the ground.

It’s been two years since Samsung launched the Galaxy Ring at MWC, and smart rings have been fairly thin on the ground ever since — although Oura CEO Tom Hale is slated to speak at the show. We’re not necessarily expecting to see any new rings this year, but there’s always an outside chance.

Much more likely to show up are a slew of new laptops and tablets. They rarely get top billing at MWC, but we’ll keep an eye out for the most exciting launches. There’s also likely to be some intriguing concepts on show from the likes of Lenovo and Samsung Display, which is responsible for the tech behind the new Galaxy S26 Ultra’s scene-stealing Privacy Display.

The big themes: AI, 6G and beyond

No surprises here that AI will, of course, be a major theme at MWC. For the past few years, Google has dominated the AI conversation at the event by showcasing Gemini’s capabilities and its widespread integration. Will this year be any different? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean the AI conversation has stalled.

We expect to see more sophisticated AI agents that are more deeply integrated into wearables, offering live translation, more actionable health insights and more personalized experiences. Some of the biggest players in the AI game will be present, including Nvidia and Qualcomm, on the hardware side. They’ll likely have saved some juicy announcements for the show and, hopefully, have some exciting demos we can try out.

Wind the clock back a decade, and everyone was talking about 5G and what a dramatic difference it was going to make to our lives. Now that 5G is old news, we’re looking forward to 6G. Most discussions about 6G so far have focused on its impact on the industry, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to be excited about.

At the Web Summit in November, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon told me that 6G will make our phones faster than ever and connect us to an «always-sensing network.» This could include wearables, smart devices, cars and even robots. No doubt, Amon will expound on this subject further during his MWC keynote, which is all about 6G and AI.

Another theme likely to be prevalent at the show is the role of satellites in enhancing network connectivity. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell will be on stage to talk about Starlink, and all the world’s biggest carriers will have their own booths where they’ll show us what they’re doing to tap into the latest network technologies.

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McDonald’s KPop Demon Hunter Meals Include Bright Purple Nugget Sauce

The Derpy McFlurry mixes popping boba pearls and berry sauce into a soft-serve dessert.

McDonald’s has seen success with themed combo meals, including its holiday Grinch Meal. Now, the fast-food chain is capitalizing on Netflix’s Oscar-winning animated film, KPop Demon Hunters, with new upcoming menu items and both a breakfast meal and a lunch/dinner offering. Let’s hope you like the color purple.

The HUNTR/X Meal, named for the K-pop girl group in the movie, is a 10-piece chicken McNuggets meal that includes a medium drink and three special menu items. 

Ramyeon McShaker fries come with a small bag of soy, garlic, sesame and spice seasoning, along with regular McDonald’s french fries. You sprinkle the seasoning into the provided bag, dump in the fries, shake it all up and eat.

The meal includes two new sauces for the fries and nuggets. Hunter sauce is a sweet chili sauce mixing notes of chili, garlic and pepper. But my favorite item on this new menu is Demon sauce, a bold mustard sauce with some heat and a bold purple color. There’s just not enough dark purple food out there.

There’s also a new dessert, the Derpy McFlurry, which blends creamy vanilla soft serve with berry-flavored popping boba pearls, served with a swirl of wild berry sauce. McDonald’s named it for the supernatural feline, Derpy Tiger, from the movie.

If breakfast is your bag, the new morning meal is the Saja Boys Breakfast Meal, named for the movie’s boy band.

It includes a Spicy Saja McMuffin sandwich, which is a sausage McMuffin with egg and a spicy Saja sauce, hash browns and a small drink.

Both meals come with a photocard for one of the bands and a Derpy card. The Derpy card includes a QR code you can scan to unlock online content about the film.

The full KPop Demon Hunters menu should be available at participating McDonald’s beginning March 31.

The McDonald’s Grinch meal (and its accompanying patterned socks) sold out quickly, so KPop Demon Hunters fans may want to mark their calendars and nab a meal when they are released.

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Melania Trump Escorted by Talking Humanoid Robot at White House Tech Summit

The first lady shared the spotlight with the robot to promote the use of artificial intelligence in education.

An unexpected guest escorted Melania Trump at the Fostering the Future Together Global Coalition Summit on Wednesday: a Figure 03 humanoid robot. 

During the event, the first lady pitched a future where AI-powered humanoid robots — presented as an idealized educator named «Plato» — provide students with personalized and instant access to human knowledge, including philosophy and art. 

The Figure 03 robot is made by Silicon Valley-based robotics company Figure AI, which introduced its third-generation humanoid robot in October last year. The Figure 03 robot costs around $25,000, according to Forbes. 

Figure 03 was designed for people to use in their homes, with demo videos showing it folding laundry, lifting eggs from a carton, using a washing machine and delivering drinks to its owners lounging by the pool. It was also shown in corporate use cases as a receptionist and a package deliverer. Using a proprietary AI engine called Helix, it can autonomously perform these tasks and respond to your voice commands. 

The humanoid was seen walking slowly down the red carpet at the tech summit and then delivering opening remarks. 

«I’m grateful to be part of this historic movement to empower children with technology and education,» the Figure 03 humanoid robot said. It then said «welcome» in various languages. 

The first lady later said that AI-powered humanoid robots could exist in children’s homes as an aid to their education to «boost analytic skills and problem solving and adopt in real time to a student’s pace, prior knowledge and even emotional state.»

The two-day summit is hosting leaders from 45 nations and 28 technology organizations, and is intended to «empower children through education and technology,» according to a White House statement. Guests included representatives from tech giants such as Google, OpenAI, Microsoft and AI data analytics company Palantir.

The summit is part of the first lady’s Be Best: Fostering the Future initiative, which aims to help children learn using advanced technology. It was introduced in 2018 as an awareness campaign aimed at combating cyberbullying and helping children affected by the opioid crisis.

US Education Secretary Linda McMahon spoke about AI being one of the Department of Education’s main priorities on the first day of the summit.

«If we’re able to scale these resources effectively by investing in AI infrastructure and training, we can offer expert instructions across countless fields, to hire volumes of people at a fraction of the cost,» McMahon said Tuesday at a round table meeting.

According to McMahon, the Department of Education has already dedicated millions of dollars in grants to support the use of AI in schools. 

The event follows criticism of the Trump administration’s 2025 executive order to dismantle the Department of Education. While the Department of Education hasn’t been officially abolished, it has undergone significant policy changes, funding cuts and workforce reductions. 

The introduction of a humanoid robot at the summit sparked significant backlash among many who are wary of the technology’s role in the classroom. Critics took to social media to voice concerns that these machines could eventually replace teachers, stripping the education system of essential human connection, and leading to increased layoffs and cost-cutting. 

On one Huffington Post Instagram post featuring the robot, commenters expressed deep skepticism, with one user sarcastically noting, «Nice, getting rid of educators in favor of a robot,» while another flatly rejected the concept, stating, «No, I don’t want to imagine a world with emotionless robots educating our children.»

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Nintendo Dropped a Switch 2 Update With a New Mode You’ll Want to Turn On Immediately

This new feature is one of the best yet.

A new firmware update hit the Nintendo Switch 2 last week. Among the multitude of small changes is a new feature that will give Switch 1 games a notable upgrade.

Version 22.0.0 for the Switch 2 went live on March 16 and is available for download to the console. The big new feature in the update was Handheld Mode Boost, which will give Switch 1 games a visual upgrade when played on the Switch 2 in handheld mode.

What does Handheld Mode Boost do? 

Even though the Switch 2 supports backward compatibility with almost all Switch 1 games, there was an issue. The Switch 2 has a higher resolution screen: 1080p versus the older hardware’s 720p. When playing a Switch 1 game on a Switch 2 in handheld mode, the graphics looked blurry and jagged. 

When enabled, Handheld Mode Boost makes a Switch 1 game act as if it’s docked, so it displays 1080p at 60 frames per second. This will give the visuals an immediate upgrade. 

How do you enable Handheld Mode Boost? 

Handheld Mode Boost has to be turned on to see the effect, and it takes a few steps: 

  • Select Systems Settings from the Home menu
  • Select System
  • Select Nintendo Switch Software Handling
  • Enable Handheld Mode Boost

Is there a downside to enabling Handheld Mode Boost? 

A user on Reddit tested the mode to see how it affects the Switch 2’s battery life. The test used Doom Eternal for the Switch 1 with and without Handheld Mode Boost. The test showed that the battery life decreased from 5 hours, 5 minutes to 3 hours, 43 minutes. That’s a 27% drop and should be taken into account when using Handheld Mode Boost. 

How do I upgrade my Nintendo Switch 2? 

If you have Software Auto-Updates enabled on your Switch 2, a pop-up window should come up whenever you start a game. If not, head to System Settings and choose to update the console from the menu. 

What other features were added in version 22.0.0?

Handheld Mode Boost was the main star of the new firmware update, but there were a slew of other changes.

  • Changed the on-screen text and animations when you load a virtual game card in the HOME Menu.
  • Added the ability to save notes about friends on your Friend List. The note content is not displayed to friends.
  • Added the ability to invite friends to GameChat rooms you’re participating in. Some friends may not be able to be invited, such as supervised accounts.
  • Friends who haven’t finished GameChat’s initial setup can now be invited to GameChat. Some friends may not be able to be invited, such as supervised accounts or those who haven’t used a Nintendo Switch 2.
  • Added the ability to rewind 10 seconds/advance 10 seconds with the ZL and ZR Buttons when watching a full-screen video in News or Nintendo eShop.
  • Added the option to add the following data to «Automatic Uploads» from Album.
  • Text-to-Speech, under Accessibility, can now read the text in Album and during first-time setup.
  • Added the ability to see the breakdown of storage capacity by data type for the system memory and microSD Express card.
  • Added the ability to perform an audio test when «Linear PCM 5.1 Surround» is selected for TV Sound in Audio.
  • When Airplane Mode is activated, the previously set preferences for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or NFC while in airplane mode will be saved and applied.
  • Added the ability to individually enable or disable Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or NFC during Airplane Mode from the Quick Settings.
  • Added the ability to see a notification in the Nintendo Switch Parental Controls smart device application when the Parental Controls PIN is input successfully on the console. This can also be set up to be a push notification to your smart device.
  • General system stability improvements to enhance the user’s experience.
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