Samsung may repeat its decision not to make any big product announcements at Mobile World Congress again this year, if a new report turns out to be correct. According to Pocket-Lint, Samsung won’t hold an Unpacked event or a lesser press conference at the Barcelona show, limiting itself to a stand to show-off existing products.
Pocket-Lint’s sources are said to be, “Familiar with the matter,” but Samsung hasn’t commented on the situation, so this is by no means official. What it wouldn’t be though, is a surprise, judging by the events leading up to last year’s Mobile World Congress.
At the time, we were all expecting MWC to be the launchpad for the Galaxy S3, but at the beginning of February 2012, Samsung put us out of our misery by confirming it would be holding a separate event later in the year. Its presence at last year’s event was minimal, with hardware such as the Galaxy Beam on display.
Should Samsung decide to confirm the report, it would be the second major manufacturer to decide against making a big deal at MWC, as yesterday HTC sent out invitations to a press event set for February 19. The gathering will be held in London and New York just six days before the start of the trade show, and we’re expecting to be introduced to the rumored HTC M7. Nokia, on the other hand, has confirmed its press conference for 9am on February 25, right at the start of the show.
As for Samsung, while we didn’t really expect to see the Galaxy S4 at MWC, there are quite a few other phones and tablets considered likely to be announced, including the Galaxy Note 8.0, several new Galaxy Tab 3 tablets and the badly named Fonblet, a smartphone/tablet hybrid with a 6-inch or bigger screen. Samsung has been steadily releasing new mid-range phones over the past weeks, with the Xcover 2 and the Galaxy Express both being announced with little fanfare, something which did make us question what it had left for Barcelona. The report is slightly at odds with a quote related to the Galaxy Note 8.0 though, which Samsung’s president claimed would be at Mobile World Congress, but this could also indicate a pre-show event for Samsung is on the cards.
Will Samsung chose to hold a pre-MWC show like HTC, or will it save its goodies for an event or two afterwards?
