In the blink of an eye, the epidemic has spread for nearly three years. Under the background of the normalization of the epidemic, major international electronics exhibitions have also begun to "melt ice and snow". For example, MWC Mobile World Congress 2022 was held from February 28 to March 3, 2022 at the Barcelona International Convention And Exhibition Center.
As a world-class communications conference, MWC 2022 naturally attracted many smartphone manufacturers to participate. And these smartphone manufacturers have also brought us many very gimmicky products. So what surprises have smartphone manufacturers brought us throughout MWC 2022? Let's review it together.
Huawei did not bring new smartphone products
At MWC 2022, Huawei did not bring us the much-anticipated mobile phone products, but brought us a new product line - MatePad Paper ink level board.
It is understood that the screen size of MatePad Paper is 10.3 inches, and the screen ratio has reached 86.3%; 4+64GB specifications, 4 weeks of battery life, support fingerprint unlocking; equipped with reading lights, supporting 32 levels of brightness adjustment, imitation paper book design, weight of only 360g; support for intelligent refresh technology, reading text is clearer; can achieve 256 gray level effect, text sharper; built-in Huawei Books, with millions of books.
In addition, the MatePad Paper also supports the second generation of M-Pencil, which supports 26ms low latency and 4096 pressure sensitivity. In terms of software, the MatePad Paper supports handwriting and speech-to-text input. MatePad Paper is equipped with HarmonyOS 2 system, which also supports HyperTerminal, which can be interoperable with mobile phones, notebooks, etc. In addition, Yu Chengdong also said that MatePad Paper can download specific apps in the app store. In terms of price, the MatePad Paper costs 499 euros (about 3500 yuan).
Considering that Huawei is currently in trouble in terms of chips, it is undoubtedly the right decision to exert efforts on terminals such as tablets, e-books, and notebooks that do not require too strong chip technology.
Honor with the Magic4 series to brave the high-end market
On February 28, Honor, which was once closely related to Huawei, brought us a new smartphone product - honor Magic4 series. The series of mobile phones follows the four-curved design, has top configuration specifications, has a powerful lens in terms of photography, and creates a clear photo experience in the full focal range through Honor's exclusive fusion photography technology.
The Honor Magic4 series continues with the iconic "Eye of the Muse" design, where multiple cameras are arranged through regular rings to form an organic whole for excellent visuals. In terms of color matching, Glory has prepared five colors of porcelain blue, flowing gold, bright black, glazed white, and burning orange, which fully meets the personalized color needs of consumers.
In terms of body design, the Honor Magic4 series uses a four-curved design, follows a symmetrical aesthetic design, pays attention to the comfort performance of the design, has a good hand feel when holding, and provides IP68 waterproof support.
Of course, the Honor Magic4 series also has a top screen, this 6.81-inch large screen supports 100% DCI-P3 wide color gamut and HDR 10+ effect, provides 1920Hz limit PWM high-frequency dimming, and supports LTPO, which can be automatically adjusted between 1Hz and 120Hz according to actual usage, taking into account smoothness, eye protection and power saving. Equipped with an independent MEMC display chip, with the support of adaptive rendering HDR technology, it can realize the real-time conversion of video streaming SDR to HDR, and achieve higher frame rate through interpolation technology.
In terms of configuration, the Honor Magic4 series is equipped with a new generation of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 mobile platform, under the blessing of honor's three major Turbo technologies, it has realized platform-level reconstruction and system-level adjustment, and comprehensively advanced in scene awareness, intelligent scheduling, anti-aging and memory management, and achieved a better experience of the same chip. In addition, the Honor Magic4 series is also the industry's first mobile phone to support game AI super rendering.
After a year of independence, considering that honor's supply chain has gradually entered the right track, the honor magic4 series released in early 2022 will presumably undertake the task of honor sniping Apple in the high-end market.
OPPO and realme have shown fast charging technology
Although it did not bring new products, OPPO brought us extremely shocking charging technology.
During the MWC, OPPO released the 240W super flash charging technology, which can charge the equivalent 4500mAh battery to 100% in 9 minutes, and the longevity version of the 150W super flash charging technology that can double the battery life of the mobile phone, as well as the new generation of 5G intelligent connection hub OPPO 5G CPE T2.
Although OPPO did not announce the 240W commercial time, it said that the 150W fast charging will be launched by OnePlus in the second quarter of 2022.
Similar to OPPO, realme also debuted the world's 150W flash charging technology during MWC and announced that the new Zhenmei GT Neo3 will take the lead in carrying the fastest 150W flash charging technology in history.
In addition, realme also announced the UDCA fast charging architecture, which is the first 100W-200W fast charging architecture, which uses parallel multiple charge pumps to increase the charging current and achieve 150W high-power flash charging with lower conversion loss, lower resistance and lower temperature. The new fast charging architecture uses a new temperature control management mechanism, which can keep the operating temperature below 43°C at all times.
Considering the highly homogeneous appearance and performance configuration of the current smart phone, presumably the charging speed will become the incremental space for future competition in the smart phone industry.
ZTE brings the Blade V40 series
At this MWC, ZTE also brought us a new smartphone product - Blade V40 series. There are four new models in the series, which will be available worldwide in April 2022.
It is understood that ZTE Blade V40 Pro adopts a 6.67-inch AMOLED display, a resolution of 1080 x 2400, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, equipped with a Unigroup T618 chip, equipped with 6GB RAM + 128GB storage space, running MyOS 11 based on Android 11 deep customization.
Blade V40 adopts MediaTek Tianji 700 chip, equipped with a 360 ° antenna, which can achieve stable connection, adopts a 6.67-inch display, has a resolution of 1080 x 2400, runs MyOS 11 based on Android 11 deep customization, equipped with 6GB RAM +128GB storage, main camera 48MP, built-in 6000mAh battery, support 22.5W fast charging.
In terms of appearance, the high-end version of the Blade V40 uses a center punching design on the front, while the Blade V40 Vita uses a waterdrop screen design. In addition, the series of mobile phones are designed with a rounded middle frame, and although the back is equipped with a rear triple camera, the Blade V40 Pro uses a different camera arrangement with three other models. Among the four mobile phones, the Blade V40 Vita and Blade V40 Basic Edition both have three colors, the Blade V40 5G is two, but the Blade V40 Pro only has one white color.
Although the overall configuration is still quite eye-catching, considering the serious internal volume of the domestic smartphone market, the Blade V40 series may not be able to meet domestic consumers.
Qualcomm brings four upstream solutions
As the core of the upstream industry chain of today's smartphone industry, Qualcomm will certainly not be absent from MWC. At MWC 2022, it announced the release of its 5th generation modem-to-antenna 5G solution, the Snapdragon X70 5G modem and RF system.
It is understood that Snapdragon X70 introduced the world's first 5G AI processor in modem and RF systems, using AI capabilities to achieve breakthrough 5G performance, including 10Gbps 5G download speed, faster upload speed, low latency, better network coverage and energy efficiency, to a certain extent, alleviate or solve the power consumption problems caused by 5G networks to mobile devices such as mobile phones.
Terminals that support all the key capabilities of the Snapdragon X70 and are powered by the industry-leading Qualcomm FastConnect Wi-Fi/Bluetooth system can use the new Snapdragon Connect logo, which highlights the application of the best connectivity technology for the Snapdragon platform. The Snapdragon X70 is expected to begin sampling to customers in the second half of 2022, and commercial mobile devices are expected to be available later in 2022.
In addition, Qualcomm has also launched two new ultra-low-power wireless audio platforms with rich features - Qualcomm S5 Audio Platform (QCC517x) and Qualcomm S3 Audio Platform (QCC307x), both of which support Snapdragon Sound Snapdragon Listening Technology. Both platforms are optimized and support dual Bluetooth modes, combining classic Bluetooth wireless audio with the new LE Audio technology standard.
It is understood that the Qualcomm S5 audio platform (QCC517x) and qualcomm S3 audio platform (QCC307x) are sampling to customers, and commercial products are expected to be available in the second half of 2022.
At the same time, Qualcomm also launched the world's most advanced Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity system , the FastConnect 7800. This advanced client connectivity solution supports the latest Wi-Fi 7 specifications, brings high-speed networking and ultra-low latency Wi-Fi, and supports a range of advanced Features for Bluetooth audio to meet consumer expectations for higher sound quality. Leading the industry with High Band Simultaneous Multi-Link technology, the FastConnect 7800 is a top-notch feature for Wi-Fi 7 networks that leverages the enormous potential of 5GHz and 6GHz Wi-Fi connectivity to deliver extreme capacity and consistently low latency, while unleashing a highly congested 2.4GHz spectrum for Bluetooth and low-bandwidth Wi-Fi.
TCL big show screen technology
I thought MWC was the home of smartphone manufacturers, but I didn't expect that players in the TV industry would also come to compete on the same stage. On February 28, TCL showcased two concept devices at MWC 2022, the TCL 360-degree Ultra Flex and the TCL Fold N' Roll.
Among them, TCL Fold N' Roll has not changed much from the last display, the device combines the two forms of scroll screen and folding screen, which can be folded and expanded like a scroll screen, with a maximum screen size of 8.8 inches, and a screen size of 7 inches under normal conditions. The TCL 360-degree Ultra Flex can be folded in both directions in the middle hinge, that is, it can be folded more than 180 degrees.
This time, TCL also launched five new machines, all priced at less than 300 euros (about 2100 yuan), and took the lead in Europe. Four of them are 4G phones, and one high-end phone supports 5G connectivity. These phones are: TCL 30 5G, TCL 30+, TCL 30, TCL 30 SE and TCL 30 E.
The main selling point of these phones is, of course, concentrated on TCL's strengths screen. It is reported that they all use TCL's NXTVISION display optimization technology and 20:9 aspect ratio. The 30 5G, 30+ and 30 feature 6.7-inch AMOLED panels with FHD+ (1080 x 2400, 395ppi) resolution and a 60Hz refresh rate. The 30 SE and 30 E are equipped with a 6.52-inch waterdrop screen with HD+ (720 x 1600, 269ppi) resolution.
In general, because it has been outside the smartphone industry, the new machine launched by TCL is more of a showmanship, and it seems that it does not want to fall into the fiercely competitive smartphone industry.
Samsung began "castrating" products
Unlike most smartphone manufacturers who launched products on MWC, Samsung began to actively "castrate" products on MWC.
At MWC 2022, Roh Tae-moon, Samsung's smartphone director, said that "the Galaxy Note will appear in the name ultra", referring to Samsung's recently released Galaxy S22 Ultra.
It is understood that the Samsung Galaxy S22 series of mobile phones has not made much breakthrough in design. The design of the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22+ mobile phones and the S21 series has hardly changed, still using a metal edge integrated lens design, the screen to maintain a straight screen design, in the body material is uniformly used metal materials.
The design of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra varies greatly, and its roundness is very different from the other two phones, and the visual effect is sharper. Overall, the design of the machine has departed from the design concept of the S series, more like an extension of the Galaxy Note series design, and the machine is equipped with an S-Pen stylus slot, which is obviously a follow-up to the Note series.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 series is equipped with the second generation LTPO AMOLED screen, of which the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22+ are designed for straight screen, the screen size is 6.1 inches / 6.6 inches, and the screen resolution is maintained at the FHD+ level. Support dynamic 120Hz refresh rate adjustment, compared with the previous generation of refresh rate adaptation is more timely, can be both a smooth display effect and screen power saving effect, but the refresh rate range is limited to 10Hz-120Hz. Supports 240Hz touch sampling.
Overall, although the haze of the epidemic still exists, thanks to the recovery of the consumer market, the influence of MWC 2022 has begun to recover, although there is still a certain distance from the peak. This is evident from the many products launched by MWC introduced above - there are not many "black technology" products.
However, on the whole, in the context of the shrinking of the smartphone dividend and the increasing homogenization of products, we can also see that most smartphones have begun to explore new incremental space, such as charging speed, screen form and so on. In fact, in the smartphone market, we can also see trends in this regard. For example, some time ago, OPPO launched the Find X5 Pro to support 80W super flash charging technology.
Therefore, we look back at the new technology on MWC 2022, which is likely to become the main theme of the smartphone industry in 2022 and even 2023. After all, OPPO officials also said that 150W fast charging will be launched by OnePlus in the second quarter of 2022.
Considering that smartphone manufacturers need an extremely important "show" and that the epidemic will be gradually controlled in the future, it is presumable that the future MWC will gradually return to the right track, bringing us more and more black technology products.