The Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona is revving up to once again transform the Catalan capital into the global epicenter of technology and digital trends. From March 3 to 6, more than 95,000 visitors will gather at Fira Gran Via to discover the most surprising innovations from a market that never rests and captures headlines every day.
However, if there is one absolute star in today’s digital world, it is artificial intelligence, which will be at the center of many new developments at MWC 2025. “It will be essential for every booth to feature artificial intelligence,” says César Córcoles, professor at the School of Computer Science, Multimedia, and Telecommunications at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC).
Although the nearly 3,000 participating companies reveal little before the fair to maintain anticipation, here are some of the highlights we expect this year:
Artificial Intelligence Agents
Artificial intelligence has taken center stage in the tech ecosystem for just over two years and is undergoing a revolution within its own evolution: virtual assistants are beginning to emerge as the future of an industry striving to rapidly improve interaction with language models. “We will hear a lot about agents capable of taking action on their own,” reveals César Córcoles, who points to innovations that will go beyond the traditional chatbot that users interact with through text or voice, focusing on assistants with autonomy to serve the user.
In this context, developers, aware of users’ privacy concerns as virtual assistants become more like their shadows and gain capability for action, are looking to combine cloud computing with processing done on the user’s own device. This is where the NPU or neural processing unit comes into play, a new section of “brain” that many devices, like smartphones or computers, already possess to execute AI applications locally. However, the UOC professor believes this does not fully resolve privacy and security issues, as the user remains unaware of which parts of the process are executed locally and which ones in the cloud. But the arrival of more devices with integrated NPU, paired with the development of smaller language models for specific tasks, could mean that an increasing number of processes will be executed on the device.
The Challenges of Smart Home
Alongside artificial intelligence and its automation capabilities, smart home technology stands out as an emerging industry that will thrive if it can overcome significant challenges. “Unless you commit to a single manufacturer’s ecosystem, you’re going to have headaches trying to integrate different smart home devices,” explains César Córcoles regarding current connectivity protocol proposals.
Despite this, the professor points to another area where we will see innovations that could boost the industry’s growth. “There are rumors that Amazon wants Alexa to start working on a large language model,” he points out, which would allow for making assistants like Alexa or Siri more “intelligent” and functional. So far, they’ve lagged behind in a race where ChatGPT and Gemini have taken the lead, along with newcomers like Claude and Perplexity.
Smart Robots
Robotics is another field of technology experiencing remarkable advancements. Once the hurdles of robot mobility were overcome, artificial intelligence allows for adding a “brain” that enables these devices to perform new actions, learn, and improve their own capabilities. “There has been significant progress; we’ve seen how Boston Dynamics’ robot dog improves with each version,” he uses as an example. The latest innovations in this sector suggest that the era of humanoid robots in everyday life seems closer than ever.
However, the expert emphasizes that the future of mass robotics does not necessarily have to come from humanoid robots. “I believe that making humanoid robots may have applications in some areas, but it doesn’t contribute significantly in most cases,” he admits. After all, humanoids are very spectacular, but in practice, the Roomba model will continue to dominate the market because we have grown accustomed to it and find it useful,” he adds.
In this context, it seems that the market will focus, for the moment, on offering small, well-known domestic robots to users, such as vacuum robots, but equipped with robotic arms to enhance their interaction capabilities. This doesn’t mean we won’t continue to see advancements in humanoid robots, but the era where every home has one may have to wait. Among other reasons, due to the high price of humanoids, with the cheapest models ranging from 15,000 to 20,000 euros, compared to just under 300 euros for a vacuum robot.
The Future of Automotive
The Mobile World Congress has also become a showcase for the latest advancements in mobility, especially concerning autonomous and connected vehicles. The UOC expert expects to see new developments this year from vehicles being prepared by Sony and those already sold by Xiaomi, although he points more towards technologies and hardware innovations in these new vehicle ranges. “I’m interested to see to what extent we keep talking about touch screens in cars, as they’ve already caused issues, and buttons are a great invention for many of the functionalities now hidden in screens,” he mentions.
In this sense, it seems that the next big battle in this industry will not be so much about the capabilities of the vehicle itself, but in the conquest of those screens that will serve as entertainment and consumption hubs when autonomous vehicles become a common reality. “If we stop driving, it will be another place to consume media,” he explains, which will open the door to battles between giants to integrate their products, services, and platforms into these untapped screens.
Moreover, another major conflict will arise from the rivalry between the United States and China, as the Asian giant seems to lead the electric vehicle market, with the next step being autonomy. However, César Córcoles assures that China’s difficulties in accessing Western hardware, which is better suited for vehicle autonomy, could slow their conquest of this market, benefiting American and European brands. Anything can happen, and the MWC could be a place to discover the trajectory of each block, brand, and market.
Converging Devices
Lastly, it appears one of the next frontiers of technology will be converging devices and new product lines that allow manufacturers to diversify the hopes pinned until now on mobile devices. “More and more people look at the new features and see that the camera has 8 more megapixels, realizing it doesn’t justify spending 1,200 or 1,600 euros on the new device,” he highlights, which is why “a new format for interacting with technology is sought,” he adds.
It seems that smart rings are well-positioned to become one of the next big consumer products, partly due to their focus on health care and active lifestyles. But they will have to compete with other wearable devices, like smart glasses, provided they can overcome their current limitations. The scale could tip, for now, in favor of the Ray-Ban Meta, “if they really integrate it well with artificial intelligence,” he emphasizes. “Having the device know where you’re looking without holding it could be interesting, but there are interaction problems that haven’t been solved yet, and they need to be comfortable, with minimal battery and electronics,” he points out.
It’s possible that the Mobile World Congress will indeed showcase advances in this sector. “We will see prototypes and demos of glasses that display a small, very limited screen in front of our eyes. It could be useful, or infuriating, to have mobile notifications in view or Google Maps directions,” explains César Córcoles. However, this market is not without its challenges, not only technical but also commercial: creating a standard that offers compatibility among products, platforms, and services from different brands won’t be easy, as no one wants to miss the chance to control a potentially massive but still unknown market.
Note from UOC: César Córcoles. Professor of Computer Science, Multimedia and Telecommunications at UOC.