MWC25 Barcelona: A Roundup of Wildly Innovative Tech

MWC25 Barcelona: A Roundup of Wildly Innovative TechThe sun shone brightly on Barcelona as Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025 concluded its second day. As the world's largest and most influential mobile communication and electronics technology exhibition, MWC showcased products, technologies, and concepts from around the globe, highlighting the possibilities and directions of smartphones and consumer brands in the coming years

MWC25 Barcelona: A Roundup of Wildly Innovative Tech

The sun shone brightly on Barcelona as Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025 concluded its second day. As the world's largest and most influential mobile communication and electronics technology exhibition, MWC showcased products, technologies, and concepts from around the globe, highlighting the possibilities and directions of smartphones and consumer brands in the coming years. Lei Technology's reporting team traveled to Barcelona, Spain, exploring the over 230,000 square meter exhibition hall and documenting these exciting innovations. Following our CES 2025 coverage earlier this year, this reporting team was led by veteran editors "Dingxi" and "TSknight." (Image source: Lei Technology)

Beyond the AI phones, AIPC, AI glasses, 5G-A communication, smart cars, and edge computing already reported by Lei Technology, MWC25 unveiled a series of mind-blowing technological innovations. This article highlights four particularly impressive and unusual exhibits, delving into their technological highlights, potential applications, and challenges.

I. PetPhone: The World's First "Pet Smartphone"

With "pet parenting" becoming a trendy lifestyle, pet consumption continues to heat up, creating a new consumer market and investment boom in the smart pet hardware industry. At MWC25, GlocalMe, a subsidiary of Ukelele Group, showcased PetPhone, an AI hardware device claiming to be the world's first pet smartphone. (Image source: GlocalMe)

Of course, calling it a "smartphone" is somewhat of an exaggeration. PetPhone cannot facilitate language communication between pets and humans (a goal currently beyond even the most advanced scientists), but it can use large language models to identify a pet's barking or other actions to determine its emotional state. For example, if your dog is suddenly startled and barks incessantly at home, PetPhone will automatically call your phone and allow you to talk to and soothe your pet remotely. From this perspective, the name "PetPhone" isn't entirely inappropriate. (Image source: GlocalMe)

However, without actual pet testing, two potential challenges for PetPhone can be identified. Firstly, the accuracy of the pet behavior recognition algorithm is questionable. GlocalMe claims that animals, like humans, use different tones to express emotions. However, whether the underlying model can accurately identify whether a pet is happy, hungry, annoyed, or in trouble remains a question. Inaccurate identification could lead to frequent, bothersome "calls" from the pet.

Secondly, the practicality of remote communication is unclear. The device can only effectively soothe a pet remotely if the pet responds positively to the sounds emitted by the PetPhone speaker. This requires training and adaptation from the pet.

PetPhone is available in Sakura Pink and Hunting Green, with global sales expected to begin in April. Pricing has yet to be announced.

II. XPANCEO Biosensing: A Glimpse into the Future of Smart Contact Lenses

Smart glasses and contact lenses are already familiar concepts. But smart contact lenses? XPANCEO, a company focused on next-generation computing, unveiled three smart contact lens prototypes at MWC25, offering a glimpse into a future of human-integrated augmented reality technology a future previously relegated to cyberpunk novels. (Image source: XPANCEO)

The most noteworthy prototype is a smart contact lens with augmented reality capabilities. This lens doesn't rely on external image sources; instead, it uses an integrated micro-display to project digital information directly onto the retina, merging the digital and physical worlds. (Image source: XPANCEO)

The final display is expected to be monochrome, but this grayscale is considered more natural than the black and green commonly used in current AI glasses.

Any wearable device, especially a micro-device like a contact lens, faces significant battery life challenges. XPANCEO's solution is a completely remote power system; the lens itself contains no battery. Users wirelessly charge the lens via a portable power companion, similar in size and shape to a standard contact lens case. (Image source: XPANCEO)

XPANCEO's significance lies in its potential to revolutionize human-computer interaction. With advancements in display technology, power design, ergonomics, and underlying large language models, future interactions may become more natural, such as using gaze direction for control instead of relying on retrieving a phone, typing, swiping, or speaking. We wouldn't need to take out devices to access information; it would appear automatically within our field of vision when needed. Our bodies, senses, and technology would become more intimately connected.

Smart contact lenses do have the potential to blur the lines between the real world and digital information, but currently, besides potential user resistance to foreign objects in their eyes, the biggest problem remains power. Directing radio waves directly into the eye doesn't sound like a good idea for any smart device.

III. FlexGaming: A Switch-like Foldable Game Console

As a leader in foldable screen technology, Samsung showcases various foldable concepts at exhibitions each year. However, MWC25 was slightly different. Following the launch of the Galaxy S25 series flagship phones last month, Samsung didnt unveil many blockbuster new products. The most eye-catching product at the booth was undoubtedly FlexGaming, a device that combines two popular technological elements. (Image source: PCMAG)

FlexGaming is a handheld device similar to the Nintendo Switch, with a simple design concept: a foldable game console. To achieve this, Samsung designed the directional and control keys as hollow to accommodate the left and right joysticks when folded, resulting in a size similar to a makeup compact. Considering the trend of increasingly larger handheld consoles, Samsung's approach is intriguing.

However, this product also has significant drawbacks. Firstly, all foldable devices have concerns regarding screen durability. Repeated folding over time could lead to noticeable creases, affecting the display quality.

Secondly, regardless of how many handheld games the Android-based FlexGaming supports, the recessed buttons designed to accommodate the joysticks will inevitably have a poor pressing feel and limited practicality.

Despite its shortcomings, the FlexGaming concept offers an interesting outlook on next-generation game hardware.

IV. Engineered Arts Ameca: A Robot Triggering the Uncanny Valley

Thanks to the popularity of Unitree Robotics, robots seem to have become a focal point of societal attention in 2025. Companies like UBTECH Robotics, Unitree Robotics, and Xingdong Jiyuan, specializing in humanoid robots, have emerged, driving a wave of humanoid robot development. These robots, emphasizing mobility, are rapidly adapting to different environments and terrains, potentially even participating in races against humans. However, Ameca, showcased at the Etisalat booth, differs; it mimics human appearance more realistically. (Image source: ET)

Developed by Engineered Arts in the UK, Ameca has incredibly lifelike facial expressions and can quickly make human-like eye contact. Its conversational abilities are powered by OpenAI's latest language model, allowing it to answer almost any question, even complimenting visitors' clothing, identifying colors and styles.

Aside from its lack of lower body mobility, Ameca's biggest issue might be its resemblance to humans. This isn't just a matter of "skinning"; even with a basic skeletal structure, Ameca's facial expressions and movements are strikingly human-like, but occasional processing delays exacerbate an unsettling, uncanny feeling. (Image source: Youtube)

With advancements in large language models and embodied AI, we find ourselves in a fascinating tension between technological marvels and psychological unease. The "uncanny valley" is no longer an abstract concept but a visceral feeling, transforming simple observation into a disorienting experience. How do we adapt to machines that increasingly resemble humans? What happens when the lines between AI and real humans blur? No one can definitively answer these questions before the future arrives.

Conclusion: Wildly Innovative Tech Unveils the Future's Veil

These are just a few of the impressive and unusual exhibits at MWC25. The rapid development of artificial intelligence has not only brought increased innovation and competitiveness to the consumer electronics industry but has also enriched the ways users interact with smart products. While tech giants invest heavily in large language models, robotics, and chips, these companies focus on observing daily life, offering uniquely creative and entertaining smart products. These products may seem outlandish, but they correspond to specific applications and target user groups. (Image source: Alex Humphreys)

Humanoid robots, for example, are likely to enter numerous homes with the help of advanced large language models. And those concepts that seem unrealistic now provide us with imaginative ideas and inspiration. In this pragmatic era, we still need cutting-edge technologies to inspire our enthusiasm. It is these bold experiments and iterative products that lay the foundation for the mature technologies of the future, fueling the industry's vitality.