Bendy phones and satellite connectivity – new handsets showcased at Barcelona’s MWC

Want to see mobile phones of the future? Then Barcelona is the place to be. At this year’s Mobile World Congress tech show, smaller brands are trying to find novel ways to stand out from the crowd. Foldable phones are old news in Barcelona – here it’s all about really bendy handsets. Motorola and Lenovo’s adaptive display concept mobile phone is so flexible it could wrap around a wrist, or be temporarily bent so that it can stand unsupported. It’s just one of the weird and wacky ideas being floated by the mobile phone industry at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress tech show. Unsurprisingly, manufacturers are going big on AI – like the Deutsche Telecom concept phone. Instead of using apps, the phone simply has conversations with the user and books them the flights and hotels they need, makes videos of their recorded memories, or gives them recommendations for places they want to visit. And if you’ve ever been annoyed by someone playing loud music on public transport, close your ears now. ZTE is showing off its Nubia Music phone which comes with a high-quality "ultra-loud" built-in speaker. These innovations are attempts to carve out a portion of a market that last year totaled 1.17 billion units, according to the market intelligence company International Data Corporation. But the two top brands account for around 40 percent of those sales between them. "The mobile phone market is particularly challenging right now because it's dominated by two big players, Apple and Samsung. If you're a smaller player with lower volumes, you've got to find some ways to innovate and add some differentiation to your device. And that's one of the themes that we're seeing here at MWC from some of those players," says analyst Ben Wood. Mobile World Congress opened on February 26 and ran until February 29. This article was provided by The Associated Press.