MWC 2026 | The Verge

One of this rugged phone’s cameras is a pop-out action cam

2026-03-11T07:53:28-04:00

What if your smartphone's camera wasn't locked to the back of the device? Honor's Robot Phone, which we got to see in action at MWC 2026, features a camera attached to a stabilized gimbal arm that can pop-up and look around. But it's still permanently tethered to the phone. The RugOne Xsnap 7 Pro, a new rugged phone from Ulefone, lets you pop out one of its rear cameras and use it as a standalone action camera.

The Xsnap 7 Pro is one of the first devices (following the Xever 7 and 7 Pro) from the new Ulfefone sub-brand RugOne. Instead of striving to be thin, the Xsnap 7 Pro is a thick and bulky smartphone that leverages its chunky design fo …

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The Trump phone was a no-show at the world’s biggest mobile show

2026-03-05T13:17:46-05:00

Where's the Trump phone? We're going to keep talking about it every week. We've reached out, as usual, to ask about the Trump phone's whereabouts. This time, we tried, and failed, to find it at the world's biggest mobile trade show.

This week Barcelona was taken over by the tech industry as Mobile World Congress descended on the Spanish city. The world's biggest mobile show, MWC featured product launches from Xiaomi and Honor, colossal booths from Samsung and Motorola, and appearances from major carriers including T-Mobile and AT&T. You know who was missing? Trump Mobile.

After the Trump-themed network missed its chance to appear at CES, t …

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This phone starts fires on purpose

2026-03-06T08:30:15-05:00

Until now, most mobile phone companies have worked to ensure their phones won't start fires. (Occasional Samsung devices excepted, of course.) But this week at Mobile World Congress, we found a company that dared to go in a different direction. Oukitel's WP63 rugged smartphone includes a built-in fire starter, and this is what it looks like:

On this episode of The Vergecast, The Verge's Dominic Preston joins Nilay to explain the existence of this particular mobile device, as well as wrap up all the weird and wonderful gadgets he and the team saw at MWC. There was also a "robot phone" that dances to (and so far, only to) "Believer" by Imagin …

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Meet your new phone away from phone

2026-03-06T07:23:29-05:00

BlackBerries are so back. | Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge

Unihertz's booth at MWC was a little out of the way, but those who did find it all seemed to want to pick up the Titan Elite 2. Sure, the cosmic orange color attracted attention, and the QWERTY keyboard reminded one showgoer of his old BlackBerry. But once I picked it up, I could see why it was so popular. It's slim, light, and pocketable, and the physical keys just beg to be pressed. I felt unencumbered, which I can't say about the phone I'm currently using. I didn't want to put it down, and based on the steady stream of visitors I saw at the booth, I wasn't alone.

As usual, MWC offered a bunch of odd and delightful ideas about phones that …

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Honor’s Robot Phone is a bad robot, an interesting camera, and maybe your friend

2026-03-08T11:47:30-04:00

The friend-shaped phone.

After over four months of teasing, I've finally been able to see Honor's Robot Phone in action. And after all that, it looks pretty legit - just so long as you weren't actually expecting a robot.

The Robot Phone could more accurately be called the Gimbal Phone, though I suspect the company's marketing department would disagree. Its big hardware innovation is a 200-megapixel camera mounted on a gimbal arm, which unfolds from the back of the phone when you need it, and retracts behind a cover when you don't.

It unlocks a set of camera features much like you'd find in a DJI Osmo Pocket. There's improved stabilization thanks to the gimbal, mea …

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The best mobile tech announced at MWC 2026 so far

2026-03-08T11:47:11-04:00

Mobile World Congress 2026 is still in full swing in Barcelona, Spain, with announcements continuing to come from the mobile-focused show that runs until March 5th.

To make sure you don't miss the best new smartphones, laptops, concepts, and accessories, we're rounding up all the most newsworthy gadgets that have debuted so far at MWC 2026. And if you want to stay on top of all the news, you can follow our full coverage of the show right here.

Lenovo AI Workmate Concept

Lenovo didn't skimp on the concepts at MWC this year, but its AI Workmate might be the most peculiar. The device looks like a tiny robot arm but instead of a manipulator o …

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The 6G, modular, robot phones of the future

2026-03-03T09:39:23-05:00

Year after year, we mostly know what to expect from our smartphone upgrades. Galaxy, iPhone, Pixel, or whatever else, everything seems to get slightly better (and occasionally more expensive) without many surprises in store. That's not to say there are no new ideas left in smartphones, though. You just have to know where to look.

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On this episode of The Vergecast, The Verge's Allison Johnson reports back from Mobile World Congress, which is positively overflowing with ideas abou …

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Xiaomi, unlike Google and Samsung, thinks camera hardware comes first

2026-03-03T10:24:35-05:00

Xiaomi’s new Leica Leitzphone has new hardware tricks including continuous zoom and a LOFIC sensor. | Photo: Dominic Preston / The Verge

When it launched the 17 and 17 Ultra in Europe on Saturday, Xiaomi bucked an industry trend: it didn't really talk about AI all that much. And it really didn't talk about AI when it showed off the two phones' cameras, including a special edition 17 Ultra co-created with Leica. According to Angus Ng, the company's director of communications and public relations, that's no mistake.

"We're still currently focusing on what is the limitation of hardware," Ng told me at MWC 2026, when I asked why its photography approach seemed so different to Google and Samsung's recent Pixel 10A and Galaxy S26 launches. "If it really comes to a point where we c …

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Here’s the upgrade to my favorite phone camera of last year

2026-03-04T07:08:31-05:00

There’s a phone behind all that other gear. | Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge

Vivo rarely has a presence at MWC, but this year it bucked that trend in a big way, with the reveal of its next flagship phone, the X300 Ultra, alongside an upgraded telephoto extender lens and professional camera cage. The company isn't ready to launch the handset just yet - or even reveal very many of its specs - but gave us an early look at what it's cooking up; that smartphone-sized 400mm lens is wild to behold in person. Vivo also confirmed that whenever it does arrive, it will be the first Ultra to go on sale outside China.

The only concrete detail about the X300 Ultra itself Vivo would confirm is that it will have a 200-megapixel tel …

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Tecno’s latest concept phone is lit by neon

2026-03-04T10:01:23-05:00

The Neon supposedly includes actual neon lighting in the rear. | Image: Tecno

After teasing a magnetic, modular smartphone concept the other day, Tecno has followed that up with another two phone designs centered around color-changing finishes: one with E Ink, and the other incorporating neon.

I'm the most taken with the Pova Neon, which the company says includes genuine neon lighting, not just bright colors: it uses "ionized inert gas lighting technology" to create a glowing effect.

By contrast the AI EInk builds color electronic ink into the rear of the phone, allowing you to change the phone's color on the fly. Perhaps more impressively, you're able to set the color using the camera, so you could make your phone …

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