The TechRadar team is in not-so-sunny Barcelona at MWC 2025 to check out all the latest and greatest in mobile, computing and wearable technology announced at this year's show.
MWC is best known for hosting some of the biggest smartphone and tablet brands, but over recent years it's expanded to bring more wearables, laptops and even audio devices into the fray; if it's portable, it'll probably show up at MWC.
This year is no different, though with the added looming presence of AI haunting the show floor, there were noticeably fewer devices to peruse in favor of AI toolset demonstrations. Fear not, however, the likes of Honor, Samsung, Lenovo and Xiaomi still brought the heat.
These are our favorite things we saw at the show, chosen by our writers and editors on the ground.
Best phone
Xiaomi 15 Ultra
The best phone overall goes to the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, which we called "another bombastic entrant" to the brand's Ultra series in the review we published earlier this week. Housing powerful internals including the Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite, the Xiaomi is an AI phone that stands its own against the competition; but its real strength lies in its Leica-backed camera array, which grants the phone some serious photography and videography chops.
Its quad-camera array is specifically intended to recreate a professional photographer's toolset with its four cameras; a 50-megapixel wide-angle, 50-megapixel ultrawide, 70-megapixel 3x telephoto and 200-megapixel 4x telephoto, and the results are simply stunning.
Read more: I spent two weeks with the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, and it's one of the best camera phones ever made
Best mid-range phone
Nothing (3a) Pro
The Nothing Phone 3a Pro is more than just a pretty face with flashing lights. It’s one of the best bargain phones you can buy, with the most versatile cameras and a truly unique design that will stand out and grab attention. It offers great battery life with fast charging, so you can spend hours tapping out beats with lights on the glyph maker. You also get the only 3x optical zoom camera that you can find on any phone this cheap.
It isn’t a top performer for games, but the minimalist chic of NothingOS is made for people who don’t want to be distracted by the phone – unless it's playing one of the beats I created myself. The Nothing Phone 3a Pro will be available worldwide later this month, and US fans can find the Nothing Phone 3a Pro and Nothing Phone 3a through the Nothing Beta program.
Best affordable phone
Samsung A56 5G
Excitement for Samsung’s mid-range A series often gets lots in the hype for its flagship S series (and for good reason), but the Galaxy A56 5G deserves attention this year for opening up Galaxy AI – or at least a trimmed-down version of it (called Awesome Intelligence) – to a whole new price range.
Samsung is keen to avoid throwing all of its smartphones into the same software basket, but the Galaxy A56 5G nonetheless grants access to the likes of Circle to Search and Object Eraser, not to mention One UI 7, which includes hitherto premium features such as the Now Bar. Hardware-wise, the phone boasts a Galaxy S25 Plus-sized 6.7-inch FHD+ display, a Samsung Exynos 1580 chipset, and a decent three-lens camera setup. Put simply, the A56 5G is the go-to option for Samsung fans who don’t need wafer-thin display bezels and benchmark-breaking power.
Read more: I went hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy A56, and it might just be better value than the Galaxy S25
Best folding phone
ZTE Nubia Flip 2 5G
We spend a lot of time testing (and praising) the best foldable phones here at TechRadar, but more affordable models like the Nubia Flip 2 5G deserve attention, too.
A direct successor to the Nubia Flip 5G, this year’s Nubia Flip model boasts a lighter, more durable design, a more powerful chipset, and – surprise! – a suite of AI features including real-time call translation and built-in Google Gemini functionality. Yes, the price is a little higher this time around – in Europe, at least, the phone costs €699 – but it’s still equivalent to a much lower figure than you’ll pay for the similar-looking Galaxy Z Flip 6.
Read more: The 'affordable' Nubia Flip 2 is here to tempt you away from the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6
Best laptop
Lenovo Yoga Solar PC
A laptop that can charge from sunlight? Why didn’t someone think of making this sooner? Lenovo’s ‘Yoga Solar PC’ is essentially a conventional Yoga Slim laptop with a solar panel built into the back of the display, and can generate a full hour’s charge from just 20 minutes in direct sunlight.
Lenovo also designed smart power delivery software that prioritizes the incoming juice from the solar cells over the existing charge (since you can still just plug this thing into a power outlet) to preserve your battery even further, and claims that the laptop can even sustain charge passively in low-light conditions thanks to the incredibly high efficiency of the solar panel. Oh, and there’s a standalone full-size solar-powered keyboard, too!
Best computing innovation
Lenovo ThinkBook 'Codename Flip'
Yes, we’ve all seen folding laptop screens before, but what about one that folds backward? That’s exactly what Lenovo’s “Flip” concept ThinkBook does, letting you unfurl the display to create a massive vertical-orientation screen, then fold it back down to create a laptop with displays on both sides of the lid.
For those who like to fit a lot on their laptop screen, it’s a more practical solution than what previous foldable laptops have offered, and it packs some other nifty features too, such as a light-up numpad and media controls that are both concealed in the touchpad. It’s also notably thinner than most foldables I’ve seen in the past, which is definitely a good sign for the future of this technology.
Best smartwatch
Honor Watch 5 Ultra
The Honor Watch 5 Ultra is that rare thing: an affordable, system-agnostic smartwatch that has a big battery life. A winner on all fronts! Most smartwatches, outside of low-power devices such as the best running watches, offer a few days (at most) of battery life. To get a titanium shell, 1.5-inch AMOLED screen and 15 days of battery life, all in a smartwatch that works well with Android and iPhone handsets, and for around the same price as an Apple Watch SE 2, is frankly excellent value.
Honor hasn’t reinvented the wheel here, but what it has done is create a well-reviewed, long-lasting, versatile watch at a bargain price. It’s absolutely worth the best in show for 2025.
Best health and fitness tech
XPANCEO Biosensing smart contact lens?
Every once in a while, we’ll go to a show and we’ll see a product that makes us drool, the way we used to drool at the first iPhone or the graphical leap of the PlayStation 3 over the PlayStation 2. A heads-up display on a contact lens, or one equipped with cutting-edge biosensors, is tech like the leaps forward mentioned above – it feels like some sort of James Bond gadget.
XPANCEO showed off a trio of new contact lenses in an interactive exhibit at MWC. Partnered with universities and research centers in Spain, Sweden, the UK and France, XPANCEO displayed a smart AR contact lens with integrated microdisplay, a biosensing lens which monitors glucose and hormone levels, and one with a non-invasive glaucoma management system. It can be used to detect early signs of glaucoma and monitor your eye’s overall health.
Other concepts on show involve contacts for data reading which "enables real-time data transfer from the contact lens to a companion device". Essentially, you look at something and it’ll send data straight to your phone (or Q Branch for analysis). The future is now.
Best earbuds
Honor Earbuds Open
The best open earbuds are one of the hottest categories in tech right now, and it's already becoming a crowded market – but you can always stick out by doing the basics really well, and that's the case with the Honor Earbuds Open. Except they also have a few nice extra tricks too. We were able to try the Earbuds Open for a while before their official debut, and we're so impressed with their audio quality – the bass is richer than most similar buds, giving a bigger and more satisfying sound than most can manage, with great energy and balance to the whole thing.
They also pack in active noise cancellation, and AI live translation tool, and a great-looking design, including a much slimmer case than most similarly-sized earphones, which will make them more tempting to carry around everywhere with you. They seem to nail all the essentials, with a little extra flair on top – worth winners of this award.
Read more: I tried Honor's new Earbuds Open and for me, they jumped straight to the top of the pile
Best audio innovation
Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro Wi-Fi
Recently, we heard that Qualcomm was promising that the first earbuds with Wi-Fi for elite Hi-Res Audio sound were coming soon… and here they are. The Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro Wi-Fi are a true first of their kind thanks to their inclusion of the Qualcomm S7 Pro chip. This means 24-bit Hi-Res Audio up to a bitrate of up to 4.2Mbps – which is around four times more data than Sony's LDAC higher-res Bluetooth tech can manage, for example. And they promise to do this with no reduction in battery life compared to Bluetooth streaming.
To make the most of that high-quality sound, there's a three-way audio driver system too, which is incredibly rare in wireless earbuds – plus modern features including active noise cancellation and AI tools. 10 hours of battery life from the buds is also a great result, proving that going Wi-Fi won't mean compromising the longevity. They really look like the first of a new generation among the best earbuds.
Read more: Xiaomi unveils first earbuds with Wi-Fi, delivering hi-res audio up to 4.2Mbps
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