MWC Barcelona 2025: What to Expect From Samsung, Xiaomi and More

The annual phone fiesta known as Mobile World Congress is almost upon us once again, and it’s set to be one of the most exciting tech events of 2025.

The mobile show runs March 3-6, and I’ll be on the ground in Barcelona with my colleagues Andrew Lanxon and Abrar Al-Heeti, checking out all the new product launches and zooming in on the breakthroughs that will define mobile tech through the next year and beyond. I’ve been attending and covering the show for 11 years, writing about everything from the very first demo of the HTC Vive headset to rescuing an old Nokia 3310 from a backstreet market on the same day HMD launched a 2017 update to the iconic phone.

This year, we’ll be watching for Chinese phone makers such as Xiaomi and Oppo to dominate MWC. “This will be an extremely strong show for them, and we expect a very strong presence on the show floor,” says Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight.

Smaller players such as HMD and Nothing are also set to unveil new phones that we can’t wait to get our hands on, plus there’ll likely be some interesting wearables, including smartwatches and AR glasses, with bonus laptops and earbuds, too. 

We’re also expecting to see AI everywhere once again this year, mostly flavored by Google’s Gemini, with a sprinkle of interesting features from the phone makers on top. CNET’s own research suggests that many of you aren’t that impressed with the AI capabilities of smartphones so far. We’ll be on the lookout for use cases and features that we think will be genuinely exciting and transformative when it’s time for you to upgrade your phone.

In the meantime, here’s what we expect to see.

What Phones to Expect at MWC 2025

Xiaomi

If there’s one phone we’re especially excited to check out at Mobile World Congress, it’s the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. The camera on the Xiaomi 14 Ultra blew us away last year — it made the phone stand out in a sea of otherwise similar high-end devices. The hype has been building around the launch of its successor, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, which we expect to see unveiled at MWC.

Nothing

Nothing’s design-driven approach to technology is always intriguing, and we’re excited to see what’s in store for its March 4 launch event. The Nothing Phone 3a and rumored 3a Pro will likely be the star(s) of the show, and could run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips, which would mark a shift away from the company’s partnership with Mediatek. Helpfully, Nothing has already shown us what the phone looks like thanks to a teaser it posted on X.

Nothing’s next flagship phone is also expected to arrive in 2025, but not until later in the year. The company launched its predecessor, the Nothing Phone 2, back in July 2023, so we’re expecting the two-year intervening period to result in some upgrades. It’s unlikely the Nothing Phone 3 will make an appearance at MWC, but we’ll be keeping an eye out for teasers of what to expect from the phone when it finally arrives.

Samsung

Samsung had its own major phone launch of the year ahead of MWC, but that doesn’t mean we’ve heard the last of the Galaxy S25. The Barcelona event is an opportunity for the company to showcase its new flagship series in Europe and potentially also give us a better look at the S25 Edge phone it teased at Unpacked in January.

Other phone companies will be following suit, with devices including the Honor Magic7 Pro and the triple-screened, dual-fold Huawei Mate XT using MWC as a victory lap after earlier launches.