LG And Huawei To Skip MWC 2018 Launch Because Of Samsung
Mobile World Congress is scheduled to take place from the 26th of February to 1st March 2018. Apart from concepts and futuristic phones, a lot of consumer-ready devices are expected to be announced as well. Without a doubt, the most anticipated launch is that of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+. Samsung is the biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world and the Samsung Galaxy S9, S9+ are its marquee phones for 2018 (until the Galaxy Note9 is launched) hence, are expected to grab most of the headlines. Other smartphone makers like Sony and Xiaomi are also expected to announce their new flagship devices as well.
While some companies would bite the bullet and launch their smartphones around the same time the Galaxy S9 and S9+ will launch, LG and Huawei appear to have other plans. According to a report, Huawei P20 (tentatively named) and LG V30+ Alpha will not be announced at MWC as the companies feel the launch of Samsung’s flagship devices will grab the spotlight.
LG not announcing a flagship smartphone at MWC is not surprising since it is reported that the LG G7 will be completely reworked. Even though LG re Even though the company announced strong financials for Q4 2017, the mobile division has continued to lose money. This prompted the CEO to announce that the company will no longer follow the yearly smartphone release cycle. It was reported that the LG V30+ Alpha, an extension of the LG V30 will be launched at MWC 2018.
An LG spokesperson confirmed that the company has a few announcements planned for MWC, but, if there will be no flagship phone announcement planned, it would be interesting to see what LG has in store for us. It could be a foldable smartphone concept for all we know.
As for Huawei, there was a leak of the company’s roadmap which pegged the Huawei P20 for a Q2 2018 release hence, an MWC announcement of the device was a fair assumption. But, the Chinese smartphone maker has remained tight-lipped on its plan for the next P-series smartphone. Just like it did for the Mate 10 Pro, Huawei could host a launch event right after MWC to unveil the new smartphone but, this is all speculation as of now.
However, neither of the companies have confirmed anything pertaining to this report which means that anything is possible come February 26th.