The Mobile World Congress (MWC) reached a record number of guests this year; probably not surprising in a world of people glued to their smartphones. As with every year, 2015’s exhibition in Barcelona saw brands debut and showcase their latest mobile devices. As a technology PR agency, we were keen to see the highlights now that it’s come to a close. What’s new on the mobile scene?
Familiar brands demonstrated their new devices at the MWC. Officially launching later in the month, the HTC One M9 was unveiled as an improvement to HTC’s precursors, particularly on the camera front. But most notable of all, Samsung hit us with a double whammy of product launches. The brand flaunted its Galaxy S6 with its metal and glass design, waving goodbye to the plastic design of previous devices that weren’t too well received. But we were met with news that the Galaxy S6 has a quirkier twin: meet the Galaxy S6 Edge. Here, Samsung has replicated its newest smartphone, but added a curved screen. It’s worth pointing out that the S6 Edge will cost considerably more, so are customers willing to pay more for a novel screen? Only time will tell. With countless developments in software, I think manufacturers are making sure that hardware revolutionises too- ensuring that we don’t all reach smartphone fatigue.
Security is becoming a key aspect of the smartphone design, and ZTE demonstrated what’s new there. The ZTE Grand S3 showcased the first smartphone that uses biometric retinal scanning to unlock. To gain access, all users would have to do is stare into their phone with their unique eyes. I’m sensing that most of us are happy with the traditional passcode security, but everybody loves a gimmick so it’s pretty likely that we’ll see this rolled out onto other smartphones.
Look out for my blog later this week when I’ll see what wearable devices wowed guests of this year’s MWC.
Alex Brown has just started his career at Skout PR and will be a regular contributor to the Skout blog.
