5 Smartphones From Mobile World Congress We’re Looking Forward To

Mobile World Congress (MWC) is one of the biggest smartphone press events of the year—and it’s only a few weeks away. The event takes place in Barcelona and will go from Feb. 27 to Mar. 2 later this month.

While Apple and Samsung have moved to having their own press events for smartphone launches, the likes of LG, Sony, and Huawei still use the MWC platform to show off some of the biggest products of the year. This year we are seeing some familiar faces return to the show, as well as some surprises.

Here are the five smartphones we are most excited to see:

1. Nokia 8

Nokia’s comeback smartphone isn’t a device we’ll get to use here in the States, but it will be important for the future of the company. The leaks that have been released thus far show a very refined, simple Android device with enough class to compete with the best from LG and Samsung.

So while the Nokia 8 itself won’t be a smartphone to look out for, it’s successor or Western equivalent will be.

2. LG G6

The G5 was a polished Android smartphone with one divisive, experimental feature: modular design. While the attempt was appreciated, it didn’t end up panning out quite how LG hoped it would.

Rumors for the G6 have been pointing toward a return to form with a highly refined, all-metal design. Old-school Android fans will no doubt be disappointed to know that the phone will probably not come with a removable battery, but the extremely thin bezels should make many happy. LG’s event will be on Feb. 26 and will focus on how huge the G6’s display is compared to its smaller footprint.

3. BlackBerry Mercury

25.02.17 #MWC2017#BlackBerryMobilepic.twitter.com/uChVjp62TJ

— BlackBerry Mobile (@BBMobile) January 24, 2017

Oh you thought BlackBerry was dead? The company has down-sized and given up on its proprietary operating system, but it’s still around. The Mercury is the company’s next attempt at putting physical keyboards back in people’s hands.

As strange as it may seem, there are still people out there who love the idea of a tiny, physical keyboard—and BlackBerry is back to make it happen.

4. Sony Xperia X2

We never quite know what Sony has planned for its annual smartphone releases. After ending the flagship Xperia Z series last year and following it up with the awfully-named Xperia X and Xperia XZ, we’re expecting to see something called the Xperia X2 be the “flagship” phone Sony is going to unveil at MWC.

Sony has struggled to sell its flagship Android smartphones, especially outside of Asia. The company’s strategy seems to be to release as many different smartphones as possible, but we’ll have to see if the X2 is a bit of a change-up to its predecessors.

5. Huawei P10

Huawei has been attempting to make a big splash in the West recently, with all sort of new products flooding the market. The biggest success so far has been the design and manufacturing work the company did on Nexus 6P, the last product in the Nexus line.

The Huawei P10 is next in the Chinese company’s lineup, which looks to have a similar design to the Nexus 6P. We don’t know for sure that the P10 will be launched at MWC, but Huawei has a press event scheduled for Feb. 26 where they will showing off a new “flagship” device.