Chameleonic Phones and Smart Lenses: Gadget Highlights from MWC 2025

Being the largest trade show for wireless technologies globally, the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona brims with manufacturers displaying their cutting-edge devices and innovations.

This year’s exhibits aim to impress attendees with incredibly realistic human-like robots, phones whose colors can change, intelligent contact lenses, and much more.

'Ambient audio' in phone conversations

Mobile equipment builder Nokia and operator Vodafone say their "3D spatial sound" will offer users "truly immersive audio" on phone calls, with the person on the line sounding as if they are in the same room.

While present calls utilize just one audio channel to convey the voice, the advanced system enables sounds to appear as though they are coming from various directions.

Labeled as "Immersive video and audio services" (IVAS), this technology necessitates smartphones equipped with dual microphones.

This, coupled with the requirement for a speedy 5G connection, suggests that the technology might take multiple years before it becomes available to the majority of consumers.

High-fidelity robot

Dressed in a black gown, a red blazer, with long brown hair flowing, the ultra-realistic humanoid robot Amira is showcased by the Emirati telecommunications company Etisalat.

Although Amira replicates human characteristics with great precision, her actions still appear noticeably sluggish and disjointed.

Elliott White from Engineered Arts, one of the roboticist developers, mentioned that the machine can be linked to various generative AI "large language models," enabling it to engage with humans.

Remote driving

At MWC, numerous connected vehicles could be seen on display, yet attendees had the opportunity to remotely operate a car located 3,000 kilometers away in Finland from the GSMA congress organizer’s booth.

The configuration — simply consisting of a wheel along with several monitors — was developed by the Estonian company Elmo. They have equipped the vehicles with specialized controllers as well as numerous cameras, working together with Nokia.

Chameleonic smartphone

A Chinese company called Realme has created a smartphone whose color alters based on the external temperature.

The exterior of its 14 Pro series, designed to resemble a seashell, incorporates thermochromic pigments that change color to blue at temperatures below 16 degrees Celsius (61°F) and turn white when it heats up.

The company behind the smartphone acknowledges that this solely ornamental feature won’t be popular for long.

"As a result of regular usage, the temperature-sensitive color-changing feature will eventually become less effective," according to Realme.

Smart contact lenses

The Dubai-based start-up Xpanceo plans to incorporate advanced functionalities such as an "enhanced reality" screen, wellness tracking, and wireless energy harvesting into a bendable contact lens.

Models showcased at their booth demonstrate proof-of-concept examples for every feature that co-founder Roman Axelrod states they aim to integrate into one single prototype device "by the end of 2026."

For now the devices are relatively clunky, with a large metal coil needed to receive the wireless power to light up a single pixel on one demonstration lens.

Axelrod mentioned that those components would be made smaller with the use of "two-dimensional materials... just one atom thick."

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Solar-powered laptop

Lenovo, a Chinese PC manufacturer, has integrated solar panels into the lid of its Yoga Solar laptop to enhance battery longevity.

Lenovo claims that its 84 solar cells can supply power to the device even without being directly under the sun.

The laptops will include a power management system designed to determine when the solar panel should be utilized.

Lenovo stated that this innovation enables the solar panel to capture sufficient direct sunlight within 20 minutes, which can then be used to support up to one hour of video playback on a PC.

"Cat Eye" for detecting cataracts

Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica has partnered with startup Edgendria Innovacion to develop its "Cat Eye" tool.

Individuals can perform an eye examination on their own to assess if they have developed a cataract severe enough to necessitate surgery.

An image of each eye taken with a basic photograph is processed using an AI-driven system for detecting the condition.

As stated by Telefonica, this implies that doctors can "assign specific duties to their staff members enabling them to step in at appropriate moments, thereby optimizing their own time more effectively."