It's been three years since the pandemic hit and MWC was the first big event to be canceled. Three years on, we are ready for a big come back with over 80,000 people expected to descend into Barcelona. The first year with no restrictions.
MWC is set to take place between 27 February and 2 March 2023 at the Fira Gran Via in Barcelona. All the tech giants such as Nokia, Motorola. Samsung, Honor, OnePlus, Oppo, Qualcomm and Xiaomi will be back, and lots of eyes are once again on Chinese brand Huawei.
A Huawei spokesperson claimed that “this will be Huawei’s largest year in history” at the event, taking up the entirety of Hall 1 at the Fira Gran Via Barcelona. Their theme this year: Leading Digital Infrastructure for New Value Together
Having attended each MWC since the pandemic, I can confirm Huawei had kept a much lower profile than what we are used to seeing.
This year, mystery seems to be the keyword under this tech giant and we have just under a month to discover all the announcements.
Huawei has had to deal with tough challenges both with the China closures and the US sanctions.
2023 looks to be a much better year Huawei. On December 30, Huawei Rotating Chairman Eric Xu delivered an optimistic New Year’s message, saying the company had finally turned the corner from the crisis mode it has been enduring.
“In 2022, we successfully pulled ourselves out of crisis mode,” said Xu. “U.S. restrictions are now our new normal, and we're back to business as usual. We expect to round off the year with a total revenue of 636.9 billion yuan [$92.15 billion], which is in line with forecast.”
He said that Huawei’s ICT infrastructure business has maintained steady growth, and the decline in its device business has past.
Xu said "Cultivating local teams is crucial to our long-term survival and development in local markets outside of China, so we need to actively build out and manage our local workforce."
Between the launch of new products, and the exhibits of cutting-edge technologies, MWC is ready to make a splash.
During GSMA's pre-event press conferece, Mats Granryd, GSMA's director said the central theme this time around is "Velocity". Granryd said the event will provide “an unmissable space to unleash tomorrow’s technology, today”.
New for 2023 is the“first immersive storytelling space”, a unique, experiential, hands-on journey into the future of technology.
Who else is ready to discover what MWC23 will bring to the table? Stay tuned for the media launches 25-26 February.
Elise Quevedo