New Flagship Phones Expected From Samsung, LG and Others at Mobile World Congress

By Robert C. Weich III Jan 18 2016, 16:39 PM EST

The Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona is the biggest event of the year for smartphone makers. The event is usually full of announcements of upcoming phones and this year there are several major announcements expected.

The big winner of the past two MWC events has been Samsung. This year, Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy S7 flagship smartphone at MWC and other companies will announce their own flagships, Tech Radar reports.

Samsung

The past two MWC events have featured the Galaxy S5 and the Galaxy S6 smartphones. This year, Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy S7, rumors say.

Samsung is expected to improve the battery life on the Galaxy S7. The phone is also expected to bring back the microSD slot that was eliminated in the Galaxy S6. Waterproofing features could also be included.

The Galaxy S7 is expected to use either the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 or the Exynos M1 processor.

Samsung might use a similar touch-sensitive screen in the Galaxy S7 like Apple uses with 3D Touch in the iPhone 6s.

LG

LG has already sent out invites for a press event on Feb. 21, confirming that they will be releasing a new flagship. The new flagship phone will be the LG G5.

The LG G5 is expected to be full metal and have curved edges at the top and bottom of the device.

HTC

HTC announced the HTC One M9 at last year's MWC. It is possible that the company uses MWC to announce the One M10 this year.

The HTC One M10 is expected to have improvements in its camera, longer battery life and advanced BoomSound acoustics.

Sony

Sony has also sent out invites for a press event, which will be held in the morning on Feb. 22. Unlike LG, it is not guaranteed that Sony's event is regarding a smartphone.

Sony might use MWC to announce a new tablet or wearable instead of a smartphone. The last smartphone announced by Sony was the Xperia Z5, announced in the fall at IFA in Berlin.

Sony has used Barcelona as a place to introduce new tablets, introducing the Tablet Z2 and the Xperia Z4 Tablet in the past.

Another possibility for MWC is an update to the Smartwatch 3, which was released 18 months ago.