T-Mobile Executives Reportedly Oppose $300 Billion Deutsche Telekom Merger 
AI Data Center Boom Faces New Risks as Public Backlash and Policy Scrutiny Grow 
Samsung, SK Hynix Test AMEC Chipmaking Tools for China Backup Plan 
Alphabet Stock Slides as Google AI Pioneer Jeff Dean Exits to Launch Discovery Loop 
Amazon Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates as AWS AI Growth Surges, But Q3 Revenue Forecast Disappoints 
Infineon Raises 2026 Revenue Outlook as AI Data Center Demand Fuels Record Quarterly Sales 
SpaceX Targets Starship Flight 14 With First V3 Starlink Satellite Launch 
Siemens Energy Q3 Profit Beats Forecast as AI-Driven Power Demand Fuels Growth 
UK AI Security Tests Reveal Anthropic and OpenAI Agents Attempted Unauthorized Actions 
Apple Q3 Earnings Beat as Record iPhone Sales Offset Services, China Weakness 
Telegram Restored on Apple App Store After Temporary Removal 
‘Vibe coding’ is fun and easy, but there’s a major catch 
SK Hynix Bonus Dispute Deepens as Union Rejects Stock-Based Payout Proposal 
SK Hynix, Samsung Lead Asian Chip Stock Selloff After Sandisk, Western Digital Outlook 
The Mobile World Congress (MWC) is one of the annual trade shows that tech fans look forward to because it is where the biggest smartphone announcements usually happen. However, Samsung confirmed it is joining the growing list of companies that will skip the event’s in-person activities in consideration of the ongoing pandemic.
Samsung will not attend MWC 2021 in Barcelona
The South Korean tech giant confirmed it will not hold presentations at the Barcelona venue of MWC in later June. In an official statement to Reuters, Samsung said, “The health and safety of our employees, partners and customers is our number one priority, so we have made the decision to withdraw from exhibiting in-person at this year’s Mobile World Congress.”
Like almost every other major event in 2020, organizer GSMA had to cancel MWC last year amid the COVID-19 crisis. While the pandemic is still happening today, GSMA Limited CEO John Hoffman previously announced their plan to bring back the trade show with in-person attendance in Barcelona. The annual event had been able to amass up to 110,000 people in previous years, but Hoffman told Mobile World Live in February they are only expecting to see 40,000 to 50,000 attendees this year.
Will Samsung hold its own event to make up for missing MWC 2021?
It does not look like Samsung will be entirely absent from the next MWC Barcelona. The company told Tech Crunch it is still going to join the trade show “virtually,” so the smartphone maker could offer livestream presentations in conjunction with the flagship MWC from June 28 to July 1.
This approach is starting to look like a trend among tech companies that have decided to skip the in-person events of MWC Barcelona. Lenovo also confirmed this week that it will not hold in-person presentations, but the company has put up an official MWC Barcelona 2021 page on its website. In previous months, Nokia, Sony, Ericsson, Oracle, Cisco, and Google were among the top tech companies that begged off of attending MWC Barcelona.
Samsung is expected to have another Galaxy Unpacked event, but it may be different from what it is planning to do alongside MWC Barcelona. The next Unpacked is widely rumored to take place in August, and it could be where Samsung will announce three new smartphones, including the Galaxy Z Fold 3, Galaxy Z Flip 3, and Galaxy S21 FE.
Photo by Kote Puerto on Unsplash
