The biggest AI debuts and gadgets announced at this year's Mobile World Congress
It seems AI is everywhere now — the news, our workplaces, homes, and even on our bodies. Even more AI-powered tech was on display this week at the “largest and most influential event for the connectivity ecosystem” — the Mobile World Congress, which runs annually in Barcelona, Spain.
Held from Feb. 26 to 29 at the Fira de Barcelona Gran Via, the conference hosts companies at the forefront of mobile innovations, along with business and government executives, to present the anticipated tech gadgets and upgrades due to come out over the next years.
Unsurprisingly, one of this year’s themes was “Humanising AI,” which MWC said was “a deep dive like you’ve never experienced before.” The event hosted 41 AI-centered sessions around AI’s impact on companies, operations, and the wider industry.
See some of the AI-powered tech that was on display at MWC 2024.
Humane, Inc., a tech company founded by former Apple employees Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno in 2018, had its much-buzzed AI pin — a mini wearable laser projector that can take calls, go online, and answer questions with its microphone, camera, and sensors — on display at MWC 2024. The pin, which has a proprietary large language model (LLM) powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4, acts as a virtual assistant that users can clip onto their clothes.
Oppo’s AI Smart Glasses
Oppo displayed a prototype for its Air Glass 3 — the newest generation of its AI smart glasses — at MWC 2024. The glasses can access the tech company’s AndesGPT model on a smartphone. The company’s presents its multimodal AI technology and lightweight design as a “personal, everyday smart assistant,” and the Air Glass 3 prototype says it will “explore the possibilities of AI technology based on cross-device collaboration between XR (extended reality) devices and smartphones.” The Air Glass 3's specs are meant to make them feel like wearing a normal pair of glasses, and users can press a button to use the glasses’s AI voice assistant.
Snapdragon’s AI-Powered 5G modem
Chip company Qualcomm introduced its Snapdragon X80 5G Modem-RF System at MWC 2024. The AI-powered modem can connect Android smartphones to satellites using its improved Wi-Fi 7 mobile chip.
Samsung’s Galaxy Ring
Samsung presented its Galaxy Ring to the public for the first time at MWC 2024 — part of the company’s “intelligent health lineup” of AI devices giving users “personalized and seamless health experiences.” The rings — which come in black, gold, and silver, and in nine different sizes — give wearers “integrated insights based on health data collected during the day and night,” Samsung said.
Xiaomi’s Pad 6S Pro
Xiaomi’s Pad 6S Pro has a 144Hz display, six speakers supported by Dolby Atmos, and is powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Among its AI features is the ability to generate images from sketches.
Integrit’s Stella
AI robotics company Integrit unveiled its generative AI device, named “Stella,” at MWC 2024. The device “automatically generates expressive behaviors for robots” using large language models (LLMs), and is meant to be used in customer service and business settings. Stella can have custom conversations and answer customer queries in multiple languages, and is powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Meta’s LLaMa.
Honor’s Magic 6 Pro
Honor’s Magic 6 Pro made its debut in China in January, and is expected to be available in Europe, but will not officially available to U.S. buyers.
At MWC, Honor said the phone will eventually support AI-powered functions, like eye-tracking features that open apps by sight, rather than touch. The phone also has an AI-powered feature called “Magic Portal,” which automatically finds map instructions or links to the phone’s calendar when addresses or events are mentioned in messages.
Intel plans to be inside 100 million AI PCs by next year
Intel announced plans for its Intel vPro platform at MWC 2024, saying it will extend AI capabilities to its enterprise laptops, desktops, and other devices. Over 100 new models are expected to come out this year from its partners, Intel said. The chipmaker plans to put core processors in up to 100 million AI-enabled PCs by 2025, according to Nikkei Asia. David Feng vice president of client computing group at Intel, told Nikkei Asia the company plans to produce 40 million AI PCs this year, and 60 million next year.
In July, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said the company was building AI into all of its future products.