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Samsung, LG, & others show off new devices at MWC ahead of Apple’s iPhone 5se event

MWC-2016

It’s Mobile World Congress this week in Barcelona, which means most of Apple’s competitors are unveiling their upcoming smartphone lineups that will inevitably compete with Apple’s own 2016 lineup.

But while we usually have to wait until the fall for a new iPhone from Apple, this year is different in that Apple’s event planned for early next month will likely see it unveil the much anticipated iPhone 5se, a rare non-flagship and mid-year iPhone upgrade that will be a low to mid-tier smartphone competitor at pricing that will take over the current iPhone 5s lineup around $450 off contract. 

Among the announcements: Samsung has officially announced its Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge smartphones — both with a similar premium metal and glass design as previous generations but with upgraded internals — while LG showed off its all-new metal modular design for its new flagship LG G5. Also on show this week is a new smartphone flagship from Acer that offers an impressive 1TB of hybrid local/cloud storage, HTC’s One X9, and a trio of Xperia X smartphones from Sony, two with high camera specs including predictive focus.

Apart from smartphones, VR is a big focus at the show this week with just about every big smartphone maker with a related product coming this year. Samsung is showing its Gear 360 consumer-friendly 360-degree camera coming later this year, Analogix has a new smartphone/tablet chip that allows staggering 4K @ 60fps output via USB-C for VR & big-screen use, and HTC announced a $799 Vive Consumer Edition. This is of course a space we’re watching closely as we hear more chatter about Apple’s possible behind the scenes work on VR products.

And Apple is also planning to introduce its iPad Air 3 next month, which will inevitably go up against the new tablets being announced at MWC this week from its Android competitors.

Head below for a roundup of all of our MWC coverage courtesy of our sister site 9to5Google:

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Comments

  1. Alex Moran - 8 years ago

    Competition releases next generation of hardware and Apple releases a phone that has internals at least a year old. The media are going to enjoy this.

    Problem is Apple will probably price this phone far too high making it difficult for people to to separate it into a different tier of smartphone

    • twelve01 - 8 years ago

      Assuming the 4 inch model uses mostly 6s components, we’re 5-6months out, not a year. Also, if the phone outperforms the competition, what difference does it make?

    • Robert - 8 years ago

      Apple have no interest in making a true “budget” phone. If they did they would ‘shoot themselves in the foot’ because it would cannibalize revenue from the much more expensive phones and out grow production capacities.

      I personally consider all Apple products to be “budget” since they tend to far outlast the competition, giving me good value for money when my phone is still working and on the latest OS four years later!

      • cdm283813 - 8 years ago

        Didn’t stop Apple from releasing iPhone Plus which definitely cannibalized iPad sales. But a budget iPhone would be too gimped for me to like so I wouldn’t care.

      • rettun1 - 8 years ago

        But the iPhones, especially the plus, have higher margins than iPads. So they’re fine with that

  2. Alex Moran - 8 years ago

    I’m still hoping the march event brings a significantly improved Mac mini.

    • taoprophet420 - 8 years ago

      I don’t think we will see new Mac mini’s until WWDC. They are testing Mac mini’s that run off A series chips. I have a feeling we will see ARM supported OS X a this years WWDC.

      • twelve01 - 8 years ago

        Not sure how sure how that would work. Are you suggesting it will run iOS, or a A series ver of OS X? If the latter, it was my understanding most apps, as they are configured now, would not work. Having two ver would be a mess.

  3. Leonson Stapleton - 8 years ago

    its funny how Apple’s old stuff still normally out performs all their new stuff, but we will wait and see.

  4. taoprophet420 - 8 years ago

    The G5 and its Friends are a nice dose of fresh air.

  5. Robert - 8 years ago

    This is not a “budget” phone. It will be cheaper because it has a smaller (cheaper) screen. Actually, it might out perform the current iPhones since it is rumored to have the same processor yet will have fewer pixels to push.

    Apple do not think in terms of “flagship” or “budget”.

    Apple will present this as the best 4 inch iPhone ever, they will point out superior graphics performance. They will boast about how they had to overcome challenges to squeeze the latest technologies from the iPhone 6s into such a small space. They will present it as, in some respects, the most advanced device yet. They will dignify it with a significant release of iOS.

  6. sharleyP (@sharleyP) - 8 years ago

    Well, so Samsung did two things I would love to see in iPhone 7 – waterproof casing and big battery.

    What is kind of frustrating is Galaxy S7 is just 0.8 mm thicker and about 2 mm wider and longer than iPhone 6s, but it can accommodate battery that is almost twice as big – 3000 mAh over 1715 mAh in iPhone.

    I have been using iPhones for four years now, but if iPhone 7 does not have at least 2200 mAh battery then I am seriously considering change.

    • mytawalbeh - 8 years ago

      So the killer feature here is the “battery” ?.. LMAO
      I would be satisfied with 1000 mAh battery when it comes to iPhone and iOS.
      BTW happy trolling .

  7. viciosodiego - 8 years ago

    g5 is better.

  8. mytawalbeh - 8 years ago

    So, Samesung couldn’t copy the 3D touch ?!

    • Robert - 8 years ago

      All the rumors said they did it. Everyone expected it. Turns out they could not pull it off. Big disappointment for Samsung fans!

  9. That’s really a nice article no doubt, but I love the latest LG G5 mobile phone that has got the double sight camera with 16 Megapixels really amazing. But confused between Lg G5 vs G4 which one is the best? : http://www.techoxygen.com/lg-g5-vs-g4-whats-new-in-lgs-latest-flagship-phone/

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.