Next-gen flagship smartphones to prestigious guests; here's what to expect from Mobile World Congress 2016

All the biggest names in the world of mobile telecoms and internet technology -- with the exception of Apple -- will be heading to Barcelona, Spain, February 22-25, for the 2016 Mobile World Congress (MWC). New-generation flagship smartphones from Samsung, LG, Huawei and Sony are expected at the event, as well as appearances from prestigious special guests.

Stars of the show: Samsung Galaxy S7, LG G5
New versions of some of the most innovative and high-performance smartphones on the market are being lined up for the Barcelona trade show, with replacements for the Samsung Galaxy S6, the LG G4 and the Huawei P8 expected at MWC 2016.

Galaxy-S7-leaked-02Samsung Galaxy S7
Samsung is likely to grab the most column inches with the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, which brings curved edges to the handset's display. These new models should be up for release from March, while a "Premium" version with a 4K screen and a 14-core processor could be heading for the Asian market.

LG-X-series-01LG X Series
As well as unveiling its flagship G5, South Korean manufacturer LG is expected to launch two models in a specialist new mobile phone range. The LG X Cam handset gets twin 13- and 5-Megapixel rear-facing cameras, while the X Screen comes with a dual-display design.

Image: Weibo Image: Weibo
Although new handsets are likely from Huawei, in the form of the P9, and Sony, other innovative models could steal some of the limelight. The Cat S60, for example, is a waterproof, high-resistance handset that's billed as the world's first smartphone with a built-in thermal imaging camera.
Cat-S60-thermal-imaging-smartphoneCAT S60
Alongside smartphones, plenty of connected devices will be on show at the Barcelona event, with freshly unveiled models plus products presented back in January 2016 at CES in Las Vegas.

Mark Zuckerberg takes center stage
Zuckerberg-MWC©AFP PHOTO / LLUIS GENE
Each year, the Mobile World Congress invites big names from the telecoms industry to share their vision of the sector in a series of conferences and debates. After outlining Facebook's mobile strategy at MWC 2015, Mark Zuckerberg will once again be the undisputed star of the Barcelona trade show. Other prestigious guests include Chuck Robbins (Cisco), Hans Vestberg (Ericsson), Shang Bing (China Mobile), Vittorio Colao (Vodafone), Brian Krzanich (Intel), Dan Schulman (PayPal) and Jonah Peretti (BuzzFeed).

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Chris Milk stepped onto a TED Conference stage and took the audience on an awe-inducing trip into the future of movies. While much of the early attention on virtual reality has focused on use of the immersive technology in video games, Milk and his US startup Vrse are using it to transform storytelling and filmgoing. "We have just started to scratch the surface of the true power of virtual reality," Milk said. "It's not a video game peripheral. It connects humans to other humans in a profound way... I think virtual reality has the potential to actually change the world." He had everyone in the Vancouver audience at TED , which ended Friday, hold Google Cardboard viewers to their eyes for what was billed as the world's collective virtual reality experience. Google Cardboard gear is literally that -- cardboard

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