The modern world is evolving so fast that it can be hard to catch the technology winds and ride the tide. Well, this year the World Mobile Congress in windy Barcelona gave us the opportunity to get a glimpse into the future of tech, lay our hands on cool new prototypes, and prepare ourselves for what's to come.
From ultra-thin smartphone concepts to rollable laptops to triple-folding technological marvels, MWC 2025 had it all.
Is the future of smartphones headed toward paper-thin devices that we will fold multiple times? Have smartphone cameras reached a threshold where we need to take them out of the phone and use them as an accessory? Are we now venturing into super-luxurious territories, putting silver and gold inside premium smartphones?
Let's find the answers to these pressing questions and many more in our Best of MWC 2025 summary. Here we go!
Xiaomi has done it again with its Ultra model in the Xiaomi 15 series devices! What the company has done, in fact, is push the boundary of the modern camera phone another notch further with the Xiaomi 15 Ultra.
This amazing device looks more like a camera with a phone attached to it than vice versa. If you somehow failed to get that notion, the Photography Kit Legend Edition will finish that transformation and morph the phone into a compact point-and-shoot camera.
The camera tech inside this device is simply impressive! From the 1-inch, 50MP Sony sensor to the 200MP periscope telephoto camera with up to 8.6x lossless zoom. Check out our detailed Xiaomi 15 Ultra review for a deep dive.
Tecno Spark Slim
Thinnest smartphone concept
How thin can a phone get? Tecno has answered that particular question during this year's MWC, and the answer is pretty damn thin! To be absolutely scientifically precise, the Tecno Spark Slim concept is just 5.75 mm thick (or should we say "thin").
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This device feels amazing in the hand; it's very lightweight, and last but not least, it features a 5200 mAh battery. Now for the bad news. The Tecno Spark Slim is just a concept and not nearly close enough to mass production.
But if this is the future of ultra-thin smartphones, the Galaxy S25 Edge will have to do better. Much better.
Huawei Mate XT
Best (and only) commercially available triple-folding phone
Technically, the Huawei Mate XT made its debut a couple of months back. In fact, we have a full, in-depth review of this futuristic phone, but it was brought to MWC 2025 to do some rounds on the catwalk, and for good reasons.
Whatever we say about the Mate XT, it won't be enough. Yeah, on the surface, it just folds one more time, but the actual experience using this device is vastly different than any conventional foldable out there.
You can use the Mate XT as a normal, dual-folding phone, but the magic happens when you unfold it to its final form. The Mate XT is the first foldable that really feels like a tablet when unfolded, and it's a harbinger of what's to come in the foldable domain.
Lenovo foldable, rollable, and solar-powered laptops
Best laptop concepts
Laptops are great, but sometimes you just want a little more screen estate, especially if you're using a cute little 11-inch or 13-inch model. Fret not! Enter Lenovo's latest concept laptops with displays that are folding in, rolling out, and also able to harness the power of the sun.
The ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 with a rollable display was first shown during CES earlier this year, but seeing it once again in person reminded us how wacky and bizarre-looking this thing really is. As the name suggests, this laptop can extend its display vertically, making it sort of a strange-looking gadget with the potential to boost productivity by offering more… well, display.
Lenovo brought another, brand-new spin on the same idea in the face of the Lenovo Flip—a laptop with a foldable screen that bends backward. You can extend the screen the same way you do with the rollable model, but when you close the laptop, you end up with a fully operational outer display. A big one as well!
Finally, the company also showed a solar-powered laptop proof-of-concept device that has a solar panel on the back of the screen. The company says that 20 minutes in the sun will get you one hour of video playback. We don't know about that…
Galaxy A36 & A56 series
Best budget AI phones
Back to smartphones, the MWC saw the launch of the latest Samsung A-series phones, the Galaxy A36 and the Galaxy A56. Why are these two mid-rangers important? Well, they offer a great bang for your buck, but that's it.
The Galaxy A36 and A56 are the entry-level AI phones, and they let you experience Samsung's artificial intelligence at a fraction of the price you'd normally pay for an S-series device or a foldable.
The Awesome Intelligence (take that abbreviation, Apple!) offers core AI features such as Best Face, Object Eraser, and Circle to Search, among others. Granted, it's not at the level of Galaxy AI, but for $399 it's a great deal.
Nothing Phone (3a) Pro
Best budget phone with a periscope telephoto camera
Speaking of great deals, Nothing launched two models at MWC, the Nothing Phone (3a) and the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro. And if you thought there was nothing special about them (we couldn't resist the pun), you're wrong!
The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro marks a milestone for budget camera phones—it features a flagship-grade periscope telephoto system with 3x optical zoom capabilities. The 50MP Sony sensor inside allows for lossless 2x crops, resulting in 6x optical-quality zoom, and finally, the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro can zoom in up to 60x!
This periscope zoom magic can be yours for just 459 Euros, or if you're part of the Nothing Beta Program in the US, you can get the phone for $459.
RedMagic 10 Pro Golden Saga
Best Limited Edition luxury phone
Limited edition luxury phones have been around for quite a while, but when the company starts to gold-plate components that are deep inside the body of the device, you know that company means business!
The RedMagic 10 Pro Golden Saga edition is another milestone for smartphones, and luxury smartphones in particular, for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, it looks astonishing! Pictures don't do it justice; it just screams premium, and the gold accents all around the phone are very stylish without being kitsch, which is not an easy feat.
The back of the phone is transparent, offering a glimpse at a carbon-fiber sheet (again, real carbon fiber), and there's a gold foil next to the fan LED to reflect the light in a luxury golden glow.
But what's more important here is that the RedMagic 10 Pro Golden Saga edition is not a slouch; it's a premium flagship in and out. It comes with a 6.8-inch 144Hz AMOLED screen, a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, it offers up to 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, and you also get a huge 7050 mAh silicon-carbon battery.
You will be excused for thinking that such a phone probably costs an arm and a leg, but here comes the real surprise. The RedMagic 10 Pro Golden Saga starts at $1,499—the same price as a regular Xiaomi 15 Ultra. And if you don't want to go down the luxury route, you can get the normal RedMagic 10 Pro for around $749.
Xiaomi Modular Optical System
Best smartphone camera accessory concept
You can do so much about stuffing a camera in a thin smartphone body, but what you CAN do is add one as an accessory. Xiaomi's Modular Optical System does just that, and before you start pointing out that this has been done with zero success in the past, let us say—this time it's different.
Instead of trying to produce fairly impractical naked sensor concepts (like the first Xiaomi 13 Ultra concept) and slapping a $5000 Leica M-series lens on top of it, this time around Xiaomi decided to do things differently.
The Modular Optical System uses a MagSafe-like system to attach the modular camera to the phone's body. This system consists of a 100-megapixel Micro Four Thirds (M4/3) sensor paired with a 35mm all-aspherical glass lens, so it's a complete camera solution by itself.
The module connects seamlessly with the phone's hardware using the company’s LaserLink technology, and you can snap it in place in fractions of a second. We don't know whether this will ever go out of the "concept" phase, but if priced right, it could be the next chapter in mobile photography.
Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2
Best high-end tablet with a paper twist
On the tablet front, Huawei brought its heavy artillery—the MatePad Pro 13.2. This premium slate can go head-to-head with behemoths such as the iPad Pro 13, which speaks volumes. You can check out our full MatePad Pro 13.2 review, but long story short, this tablet comes with thin bezels, a premium and lightweight (for a 13+ inch device) design, a gorgeous 144Hz screen, and super-fast charging.
Now for the paper twist from the subheading—the tablet is available with the company's PaperMatte technology, which adds a special layer on top of the display. What this layer does is simulate the feel of paper, and while this might not sound like much, the experience of using this slate is completely different.
Writing on the screen with the M-pencil feels great, and if you're one of the lucky ones to have an artistic talent in drawing, you'd feel at home with this PaperMatter coating. The PaperMatte edition also comes bundled with a keyboard, a magnetic stand, and the aforementioned M-pencil. All of this at the very reasonable price of 999 euros for the 512GB version.
TCL NXTPaper 11 Plus
Best budget paper-feel tablet
If 999 euros feel a little steep to embark on this papery journey, there's another budget option from TCL. The NXTPaper 11 Plus tablet offers a very similar experience, as it uses the company's fourth generation of NXTPaper coating technology.
The 11.5-inch IPS LCD with 2.2K resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate also supports TCL's proprietary T-Pen, so you can unleash your artistic talent without breaking the bank. The tablet starts at $249 for the 8GB/256GB version and will hit the shelves across Europe, North America, Asia, and Latin America next month.
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Mariyan, a tech enthusiast with a background in Nuclear Physics and Journalism, brings a unique perspective to PhoneArena. His childhood curiosity for gadgets evolved into a professional passion for technology, leading him to the role of Editor-in-Chief at PCWorld Bulgaria before joining PhoneArena. Mariyan's interests range from mainstream Android and iPhone debates to fringe technologies like graphene batteries and nanotechnology. Off-duty, he enjoys playing his electric guitar, practicing Japanese, and revisiting his love for video games and Haruki Murakami's works.
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