BARCELONA, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- The 2019 Mobile World Congress (MWC) which opened Monday in the city of Barcelona in northeast Spain, will highlight the very latest trends in the mobile telecommunications industry.
Around 110,000 visitors along with 2,400 companies from over 200 countries are present at the MWC2019 Barcelona, which this year goes under the banner "Intelligent Connectivity."
That banner should give a big hint to what visitors can expect to see in Barcelona, with 5G finally coming into play after a couple of years in which it has certainly been on the agenda as a concept, but without the hardware to take it to the public.
It seems a safe bet this year will see the arrival of the 5G enabled devices which will become a commercial reality in 2019 and that probably does not just mean phones, but connected vehicles, personal entertainment and big improvements in connectivity speeds.
The higher connectivity speeds, use of Big Data and lower latency that 5G provides will mean autonomous and fully connected vehicles move another step closer to being a reality on the roads and 2019 will see the proposals for Mercedes Benz and Audi (both have stands at MWC2019) in this field.
These vehicles could also possess augmented reality to allow their passengers to enjoy real world information about the environment which surrounds them.
Of course MWC2019 will see the companies such as Samsung, Huawei and Nokia present 5G phones with 2019 looking as if it could be the year of foldable devices. Xiaomi and Samsung have already showcased "foldables," with Samsung already presenting their Galaxy Fold (which will sell at an eye-popping price of 1,980.00 U.S. dollars) and Xiaomi showing a prototype folding tablet, which can also be used as a phone.
We could also see always-connected PC's (known as ACPC), which are devices with long life batteries that are lightweight and portable, but allow the power for work or gaming whatever the environment.
Connected cities and the efficient management of resources will once again be a major theme, even more so as the need to reduce climate change emissions places an emphasis on producing ever cleaner energy and then using it more efficiently.
Connected cities will also play a role in the advance of driverless and electric vehicles and ensuring that traffic flows in the most efficient and thus the most ecological manner.
Add to that Artificial Intelligence (AI), which will grow hand in hand with the 5G rollout and the growth that will allow in the Internet of Things (IoT) and we are looking at the four days which would give a window into a future world which is better connected, faster, more efficient and cleaner.
