When all the adverts for mobile phones on the streets, the traffic jams in front of the convention centre and the hordes of“Business suits” on the La Rambla come together, it means the opening of the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC) . Last week, the Mediterranean city became an important stage for the world of technology. “Global Times” special correspondent also in the“Palestinian exhibition” to feel close attention to Chinese technology companies from all walks of life.
Scene: queues of people and“Exhausted” robot dogs
South Ent. , traditionally the most sought-after advertising space at Barcelona’s convention centre, this year belonged to a Chinese technology company. Giant posters of Huawei’s Mate X6 and Xiaomi’s 15 Ultra gave the first impression — Chinese tech companies were taking centre stage — on both sides of a giant screen that scrolled through the show’s official videos.
“Whether you’re talking about 5g, mobile, or Ai, you can’t ignore China,” Daniel Bedrina, commercial manager at 3telecom, told reporters, the participation of Chinese Enterprises has added a lot of topics and attention to the annual exhibition, and strengthened its status as a“Bellwether for the communications industry”.
According to the official figures released by the exhibition, the number of exhibitors this year is about 2,700, of which more than 300 are from China.
Huawei remains one of the biggest exhibitors, with almost the entire complex under contract. Inside the roughly 9,000-square-metre Booth, Huawei showcased a range of high-performance network equipment and 5.5 G mobile communications equipment, as well as the latest products and technological solutions for infrastructure such as the cloud, transport and power. It also introduced consumer gadgets such as the triple-fold Mate XT, which viewers queued around to experience. On the opening day, King Felipe VI of Spain, who toured the exhibition, was one of those who tried the phone.
Another queue appeared at the Xiaomi Booth. At this year’s Brazil show, Xiaomi for the first time demonstrated a concept product — a modular optical system. Xiaomi uses a custom lens with a built-in sensor that is magnetically attached to a mobile phone to improve overall shooting quality.
Yushu robot greets participants at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. (visual China)
At the moment when the camera function of mobile phone is valued by consumers, this innovative design has aroused the interest of many viewers and media. With only two prototypes on display, some visitors had to wait in line for half an hour to get the chance. “I haven’t seen this kind of innovation in mobile photography in a long time, and Chinese companies are always full of surprises,” said Alex Gomez, a British mobile industry analyst who spoke to reporters while waiting, “I envy you the choice. Competition always spurs innovation.”
Because of the“Robot on the Spring Festival Gala” in the domestic popular Yushu Science and Technology debuted this year in Pakistan exhibition, but particularly low-key. It took the reporter 20 minutes to find the 3-square-meter booth in the gallery between the two pavilions after learning from a colleague that the robot maker also had a booth. Although the booths are small and barely decorated, Android and four-legged robots (robotic dogs) that constantly interact with visitors are still attractive tools.
“It’s great, I’ve only heard of Boston Dynamics, I’ve never heard of this Chinese company,” said Indian tech analyst Ayosh Patak, who has more than 5 million followers, after interacting with robots and dogs made by Ushi. He waves, and the robot dog obediently walks up to him; he extends his left hand, and the robot dog hands him a“Paw” to shake his hand. Perhaps to entice spectators to stop, the dog made hearts out of its paws, and crowds gathered to take pictures of it blocked the aisles.
When the reporter returned to the Yushu Science and Technology Booth in the afternoon, several robot dogs had been“Exhausted” and were no longer“Trying to show their talents” because the batteries were almost exhausted. Yushu staff said that the participation in the exhibition is to open up overseas markets, mainly for education and scientific research customers. “The Yushu G1 robot starts at $16,000,” read a poster of elabour
At the“AI everywhere” fair, DeepSeek, which was not officially represented, also showed up in another way, such as Lenovo’s AIPC, a large-scale model of DeepSeek’s 7BN parameters deployed end-to-side. During the reporter’s interview, almost everyone in the audience had more or less heard the name of this big open source model. Mexican lawyer Jorge Alberto even took out his Xiaomi cell phone directly, deepseek’s blue whale icon was shown to reporters.
Alberto, who advises technology companies, said: “[ DeepSeek ] is convenient, easy to use, has a great Spanish language service… I think it shows the possibilities of AI.”
Attitudes: admiration, anxiety and“Why Not Europe?”
“Xiaomi high-end acceleration”, “Glory to the transformation of AI terminal eco-company”, “ZTE showcases key innovations”… … Chinese companies and the technologies they have demonstrated are a topic that can not be avoided by the international media during the exhibition.
Indonesian technology industry analyst Didy IRWAN has been following the development of China’s mobile phone industry for more than 10 years, his first trip after the opening of the exhibition was to experience new products at the booths of companies such as Xiaomi, Huawei and glory. “A lot of great companies started out as copycats,” says Ilyushin Il-2 Wan, who has observed the growth and progress of Chinese tech companies. “Now they are being imitated and followed.”
“It’s exciting to see Chinese brands really competing with giants like Apple and Samsung,” Sihan, president of GSMA Greater China and organiser of the Brazil show, told the media. “Chinese brands are often perceived as being good value for money and they often combine artificial intelligence, innovation and performance optimisation.”
“Not only in Xiaomi, but also in Xiaomi, we see many Chinese companies that used to be more followers of science and technology, but now they are starting to catch up and take the lead in some areas,” Lu weibing, partner and president of the Shanghai Group, said in an interview, there is still some way to go before it is a full-fledged leader, but“The trend is on our side of China’s tech companies”.
On February 27, Xiaomi officially launched the SU7 Ultra, an electric car with a starting price of RMB529,900. Orders for more than 10,000 units were placed within two hours of the launch. The new car also made an appearance at the show and received a lot of attention.
“The Xiaomi Su7 Ultra is a Chinese electric car that keeps Porsche up at night,” was the headline in Forbes Magazine the day after the new car’s launch. The Wall Street Journal said“Chinese electric carmakers are threatening Ford and General Motors”.
While the reports can be taken as an endorsement of the innovative capabilities of Chinese companies such as Xiaomi, there is a palpable sense of anxiety in the US and Europe. The chief executives of Vodafone, Telefónica, Orange, Deutsche Telekom and other major European telecom operators attended a forum on the theme of“Getting Europe back on the fast track”. At the heart of their discussion was a question of how Europe could join forces to promote technology and stem its declining international competitiveness.
In front of reporters, a representative of a French technology company did not withhold praise for the innovative ability of Chinese technology companies, but there is also a mixed message: “We would prefer these innovations to take place in Europe. . . of course, we would also like to work with Chinese companies.”
According to a recent report by the technology website“Mobile Arena”, when mobile phones first became popular, users didn’t know or care about the country of origin of the phones, some people think Nokia is British or American. “But today it’s very different. We know exactly where these phones come from and draw a line between western and Chinese products.”
At the crowded Huawei Booth, your correspondent came across a representative from Argentinian telecoms who was“Flipping” three-fold mobile phones in Huawei. “This is the first time I’ve touched it and I’ve seen a lot of videos of it,” said the representative, referring to a long-standing partnership with Huawei in which Huawei’s equipment and technology are heavily used in its core networks. “Our first criterion for choosing a partner is not where it comes from, but whether its products can provide value for us. We also work with companies like Nokia, as long as they meet the standards.”
Response: Innovation and openness
The exhibition this year coincides with the two sessions of China’s National People’s Congress and the National People’s Congress. The issue of China’s scientific and technological development transcends time difference and distance, forming a wonderful interaction.
Lou Qinjian, National People’s Congress of the Third Plenary Session of the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (NPC) , said in a question-and-answer session Friday that there is more than one path to technological progress in a colorful world. The continuous technological breakthroughs of Chinese technology companies represented by DeepSeek, as well as the rise and fall of some communication companies, fully demonstrate that the right choice is to adhere to innovation, open and sharing, and improve people’s well-being.
Winning recognition with technology and promoting cooperation with openness are exactly the images that China’s technology companies displayed at Mobile World Congress. Xiaomi unveiled its latest flagship phone, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, at a press event in Barcelona on Thursday, announcing that it will start at $1,499 in Europe, more than the iPhone 16 Pro Max, become the brand to expand the international“Ultra-high-end” mobile phone market new main force. Lu said Xiaomi’s confidence in its own technology and products was behind the 15 Ultra, as well as a sign of the country’s technological prowess globally. In the 2023, Xiaomi’s goal of becoming a global leader in the next generation of hard-core technology within 10 years has directed all of Xiaomi’s resources.
Also on Tuesday, Glory launched its“Alpha Strategy” in Barcelona, calling on the industry to work together as it announced its transformation from a smartphone maker to an AI-based ecosystem, create an open, co-created and shared ecosystem. Honoring the new CEO , Li Jian kicked off the strategy with representatives from Google Cloud, Qualcomm, the CKH Group, France Telecom, telefã 3 Nica and Vodafone.
During this year’s exhibition, the trend of multi-polarization of technology became clearer. As Huawei competes with Qualcomm in 6G spectrum management, and as DeepSeek challenges CHATGPT’s technological hegemony with an open-source ecosystem, more and more Chinese companies are transforming from“Innovation followers” to“Rule makers”, highlights the promise of a more open, collaborative technological future.
Jeff Robinson, North Dakota, a senior analyst at European technology consultancy Convergence Research, told reporters that in an era when the big stick of trade is increasingly being wielded and restrictions are replacing co-operation, what the world has seen is DeepSeek’s insistence on open source and the openness of Chinese tech companies.
“China’s technological prowess has proven to be challenging and some outdated perceptions must be abandoned,” Robinson, North Dakota said.