Mobile World Congress, facing the threat of a new technology bubble

They call it the world congress of mobile devices, but many years have passed since then smart phones They stopped being the absolute protagonists of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The first event of the post-pandemic era opens tomorrow at a sensitive time for the industry, with rumors of a new tech bubble about to burst and companies laying off workers en masse. At the head of all of them is Amazon, the largest employer in the world (1.52 million workers worldwide), which will be without 18,000 people, followed by Google (12,000), Meta (11,000), Microsoft (10,000), Salesforce (cloud) software, 7,000 layoffs), Dell (6,650), HP (6,000), Cisco (4,100), IBM (3,900), Twitter (3,700), SAP (German multinational business management software, 2,800), Ericsson (1,400)…

The bleeding isn’t affecting mobile device makers at the moment, although they too are facing their own particular Armageddon with falling global sales smart phones 18.3% to 300.3 million units in the fourth quarter of 2022 (Worldwide Quarterly Cell Phone Tracking, IDC). This is the largest single-quarter drop in history, which contributed to global sales falling short of 1.210 million units last year, the lowest figure since 2013.

The slowdown in consumer demand is attributed to the effects of covid and the war in Ukraine, with its collateral damage in component manufacturing (mainly microchips) and a supply crisis due to congestion at East Asian ports. But also to a certain technological oversaturation in a decade in which sustainability stands as a new religion accepted by companies and users. Not only does it no longer seem necessary to change cell phones every year (devices don’t show as much progress as they did in the first two decades of the century), but some are even starting to frown upon it.

Manufacturer ranking smart phones In the last two years, it has undergone some changes. It is now led by Apple (absent at the fair, where the Android ecosystem rules) with a 23% market share, while Samsung lost its privileged position, falling from 22% to 19%. From here, Chinese companies, which also did not do well with the pandemic: Xiaomi (11%), Oppo (10%) and Vivo (8%) record lower percentages than at the beginning of 2021, and behind them feel the pressure of brands such as Realme, Huawei, Honor, ZTE, OnePlus, Motorola or Nothing.

As usual, most companies have already unveiled their flagship devices, starting with Samsung itself, which launched its lineup this month. premium Galaxy S23. Oppo has just presented the Find N2 Flip, a foldable phone with a bendable screen, a rising category in which it will compete with Honor Magic Vs, Galaxy Z Flip 5 or Motorola RAZR 2022. For its part, ZTE will show the world’s first tablet with a screen ready for viewing 3D content without the need for glasses.

At the network level, Telefónica, Ericsson and Qualcomm will present the first commercial adaptation in Spain to access the 5G mmWave spectrum, which represents a significant advance in the field of fixed wireless access, digitization, Industry 4.0 and connected vehicles. Telephone, with a stand of almost 1000 square meters, will show how it combines 5G technologies, edge computing and fiber to make your holographic telepresence system a reality. One of his demonstrations will be a simulation using a robotic arm that represents a digital twin designed to optimize quality in the production of industrial parts with the ability to make real-time decisions.

Vodafone will showcase the latest IOT connected applications that offer communities early warning of forest fires and floods, as well as real-time air quality measurement. It also brings the world’s first prototype 5G network built on a Raspberry Pi (microcomputer) for mobile devices, which could give users their own high-speed, private, low-cost mobile broadband network.

Galician companies at the fair

With the bubble of the metaverse burst, artificial intelligence will be one of the big topics of discussion at Mobile World Congress, and even more so given all the media dust-up raised by ChatGPT, Microsoft’s AI. For this reason, it is surprising that, despite the recent selection of A Coruña as the headquarters of Aesia, the presence of Galicia is rather rare at the fair, which is a key stage for the presentation and opening of business opportunities.

Among the companies from the community that will be in Barcelona (at 4YFN, a parallel event dedicated to entrepreneurship) is Alice Biometrics, which offers a verification solution that allows the registration process of new clients to be carried out 100% on the line, compliance with the law and reduction of fraud. These include facial recognition, life detection and automatic document reading to prevent identity theft.

For its part, Ancora Mobile has designed software to improve the efficiency of the digital factory using voice technologies, user experience and AI. As they explain, simple tasks become more complex with interfaces poorly designed and the consequences are a slowdown in production and difficult recruitment of new workers. His system enables better performance in less time. Finally, InVerbis, born in the CiTIUS technology transfer incubator of the University of Santiago, will demonstrate how it optimizes business processes using artificial intelligence.