Wondering which companies have released new smartphones during Mobile World Congress 2022? Due to several launches happening just before the show itself, it has been difficult to keep track, so we’ve collected the best of them here.
Oppo Find X5 Pro
Announced a few days before the start of Mobile World Congress 2022, the Oppo Find X5 Pro is one of the top flagship phones at the show. The sequel to the Find X3 Pro (don’t go looking for a Find X4, as it doesn’t exist), the phone is made from ceramic and metal and has two Sony IMX766 50-megapixel cameras on the back along with a 13MP telephoto camera.
Oppo’s new MariSilicon X Neural Processing Unit (NPU) powers the camera, and it’s the first phone to showcase Oppo’s partnership with Hasselblad. We’re expecting great things from it, and our early impressions are positive. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 powers the phone with a 5,000mAh battery, which takes 50% charge in just five minutes.
The Find X5 Pro will be released on March 24 in the U.K., and will cost 1,049 British pounds or about $1,485. A U.S. launch almost certainly won’t happen.
Honor Magic4 and Magic4 Pro
Honor, once part of Huawei before being sold off, has announced its major flagship phone for 2022 — the Magic4 Pro. Equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, 5G connectivity, and a feature-packed camera, the Magic4 Pro has all the latest technology you want inside a sleek design.
The unusual circular camera module on the back contains a pair of 50-megapixel cameras and a 64MP periscope zoom, along with plenty of computational photography enhancements for great zoom photos. The non-Pro version has a different camera system, but the same overall design and processor. Honor has only said the phones will be released before the middle of the year, but not where or exactly when. It has put a 1,099 euro/$1,227 price on the Magic4 Pro. A U.S. launch is highly unlikely.
Realme GT 2 Pro
Realme has used MWC 2022 as the setting for the global launch of the Realme GT 2 Pro, which had already made its first appearance in China at the beginning of the year. The phone is notable for its low price, 599 British pounds, or about $800, but still features the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor and a fun 50-megapixel camera that takes wide-angle photos with a 150-degree field-of-view.
We’ve put the camera to the test and have been impressed by the results so far, as it takes fun and highly shareable photos in a way that can’t be achieved by the competition. The rather ordinary design has been elevated by a special biopolymer rear panel modeled to look like high-quality paper. It’s especially pretty in the Paper Green color. The Realme GT 2 Pro will be released in the U.K. on March 8, but we aren’t expecting a U.S. release any time soon, unfortunately.
Poco X4 Pro
Poco marked its Mobile World Congress debut with the Poco X4 Pro, a take on the existing Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G. This means it has a radical new design, but the internal technology is the same as the Xiaomi phone. Available in a stunning yellow or blue color, along with a more ordinary black, the rear panel is dominated by a massive camera module.
The main camera itself is similarly massive as it has 108-megapixels, which is impressive on a phone that costs just 299 euros, or about $336. The Poco X4 Pro will be released in the U.K. on March 2, but Poco has not released its phones in the U.S. officially before, so don’t expect much to change this time.
Motorola Edge Plus (2022)
A Motorola flagship phone is a rare beast. The Motorola Edge Plus (2022) is a follow-up to last year’s Moto Edge, and it has all the right specs, including a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, a 6.7-inch OLED screen with a 144Hz refresh rate, stylus support, and a pair of 50-megapixel cameras on the back. It’s pricey at $999, though, but at least it’s getting a release in the U.S., unlike many of the phones announced at MWC this year. We’ve already had a chance to try the phone out.
TCL 30 series
TCL didn’t hold back on its MWC 2022 announcements, as it unleashed five modestly priced new models into the world. The TCL 30 5G is the top model, and is joined by the TCL 30+, the TCL 30, the TCL 30 SE, and the TCL 30E. We go into the differences between them in detail in this article, but what you really need to know is how reasonably priced they all are.
The most expensive model, with a 6.7-inch AMOLED, a MediaTek Dimensity 700 processor, 5G, and a 5,000mAh battery, is 249 euros, which is less than $300. That’s decent value, and TCL knows how to build decent hardware too. The other models are cheaper with lower specs. All are available to buy in Europe now, and a global release is possible later on this year.
Nokia C21, C21 Plus, and C2 2nd Edition
Like TCL, HMD Global, which owns the license for Nokia-branded hardware, came to MWC 2022 with some low-cost smartphones. There are three new models, the C21, C21 Plus, and C2 2nd Edition, and none cost more than 119 euros, or about $132. These cheap devices are aimed at people exploring smartphones for the first time, and have a basic set of specs, but crucially, the latest Android 11 Go Edition software and several years of updates are included.
That’s all the big phone releases from MWC 2022 so far, but if you still want more, you can also take a look at TCL’s concept folding phones to get an idea of what may come in the future, and also learn more about the impending global arrival of the OnePlus 10 Pro.
