MWC 2016: everything confirmed, rumored and expected

Update: We’ve added new confirmed product launch details for several manufacturers below, added new rumors and additional OEM sections.

We’re now in the final countdown before the curtains are pulled back at MWC 2016. With less than a week to go, it’s about time we got everything organized for you: what’s confirmed to be there, what’s rumored to show up and what we’re expecting to see. Our list is broken down by manufacturer, so hit the shortcuts for your favorite OEM or scroll down to check out everything you can expect from MWC 2016.

What is MWC and when is it?

MWC stands for Mobile World Congress, the world’s largest mobile electronics trade show. MWC 2016 will be held between February 22 and 25 in Barcelona, Spain with press days on the weekend before. That’s when you can expect most of the MWC 2016 announcements to be made, with hands-on videos and articles coming soon after. So keep your eyes peeled for all the latest MWC 2016 news on February 20 and 21.

Samsung at MWC 2016

Confirmed: Samsung Galaxy S7 launch
When: February 21, 7 PM (10 AM PST, 1 PM EST)

Samsung has issued its press conference invites for the new Galaxy S7 series to be held on Sunday evening, February 21. While there is still debate as to whether there will be two or three Galaxy S7 variants presented, at the very least we know we’ll be seeing the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge. It’s that tricky Galaxy S7 Edge+ we’re still not so sure about. We do know that all Galaxy S7 pre-orders come with a free Gear VR headset.

See also: Samsung Galaxy S7 rumor roundup: release date, price, specs, features72

Rumored: Samsung Gear 360 VR and two new Galaxy Tab S3 tablets

The biggest MWC 2016 rumors for Samsung are both related to the Galaxy S7. Namely, that the new range will feature an IP58 water-resistant rating and see the return of the microSD card to the Galaxy line. Considering Samsung has been having some troubles with its mobile division of late, bringing back two hugely popular features might just be enough to give them the edge over the LG G5. Samsung is also rumored to unveil a Gear 360 VR camera and we might also see new 8- and 9.7-inch Galaxy Tab S3 tablets.

LG at MWC 2016

Confirmed: LG G5 launch and LG X series launch
When: February 21, 2 PM (5 AM PST, 8 AM EST)

LG has also issued press conference invites for the LG G5 launch, which will happen on Sunday afternoon, February 21. The biggest news around the LG G5 is its modular design, which will allow users to use various hot-shoe accessories with the smartphone, including a variety of cameras, larger battery, physical keyboard and more. The LG G5 will have an Always On screen, much like the LG V10.

LG has also confirmed the new LG X line for MWC, which incorporates specialist flagship features in otherwise mid-range phones, and a new premium set of Tone Platinum headphones. The LG White Card and LG Pay system have been officially deferred until the second quarter of the year, after being rumored for an MWC unveiling.

See also: LG G5 rumor roundup: release date, specs, and features93

Rumored: LG 360 VR

You may recall previously we guessed that when LG’s invite for “LG G5 Day” mentioned “come meet new friends on the playground”, we guessed that the plural “friends” could mean the G5 and new mid-range phones. That guess has proven to be correct with the confirmation of the LG X line, but that doesn’t mean that LG might not still have a VR headset or a 360-degree VR camera as well. We’re betting on a new LG G5 VR headset as the launch partner for the G5.

Sony at MWC 2016

Confirmed: Something
When: February 22, 8:30 AM (11:30 PM PST, 2:30 EST)

While we have no idea what Sony will be bringing to MWC 2016 we have received invites for a press conference on the Monday morning. This timing, and its location at the Sony booth rather than a big auditorium or venue, makes us think it won’t be anything too major, and certainly not the Xperia Z6 which we’re expecting to arrive at IFA 2016.

See also: Sony Xperia Z6 rumor roundup: release date, price, specs, features6

Rumored: Something else

On the rumor side of things, it could be something to do with Sony Playstation VR, a new wearable or a tablet. We’re not holding out hope for an Xperia Z5 Tablet (or Xperia Z6 Tablet, knowing Sony’s penchant for peculiar naming conventions), considering the rumors that Sony will ditch tablets this year.

If it does turn out to be a tablet it might just be Sony’s last, and if it’s the Sony Smartwatch 4 it had better be seriously good to compete with the best Android Wear smartwatches around right now. It could also be a successor to last year’s budget Xperia M4 Aqua or the recently leaked Xperia C6.

Xiaomi at MWC 2016

Confirmed: Xiaomi Mi 5 launch
When: February 24, 9 AM (12 AM PST, 3 AM EST)

Xiaomi is attending its first MWC and is holding a press conference to celebrate the Xiaomi Mi 5 launch on the Wednesday. Whether we’ll be able to get a good look at the Mi 5 before that time we’ll have to wait and see but we’re sure to see plenty of other Mi products that aren’t always so easy to get ahold of, as well as find some time to chat with Hugo Barra who will be in attendance.

Huawei at MWC 2016

Rumored: Huawei P9 launch
When: February 21, 2 PM (5 AM PST, 8 AM EST)

Huawei has pretty officially broken into the global consciousness now, with the Mate S, Nexus 6P and Mate 8 knocking pretty much everyone’s socks off. But Huawei has been putting out great phones for years, most notably in the P series.

Some rumors indicate a later Huawei P9 launch than MWC 2016, but we’ll be at the press conference just in case it arrives early. it’s just a shame that it’s at the exact same time as the LG G5 launch. One thing is for sure though, the Huawei invite states “a brand new device” will be unveiled…

HTC at MWC 2016

Rumored: HTC One M10 launch in March

HTC may not have anything major to announce at MWC 2016. No press conference has been announced and the rumor mill has HTC doing the HTC One M10 launch at a separate event in March. A separate event would obviously help avoid losing the spotlight to Samsung and LG in Barcelona, but the M10 has got to be one of the least-anticipated flagship phones following the abysmal HTC One M9 reception last year. Still, we’ll see the UA Health Box and HTC Vive Pre again.

Oppo

Confirmed: “Breakthrough” battery and camera tech
When: February 23, 10 AM (1 AM PST, 4 AM EST)

Oppo has promised to “wow the world” with its ”breakthrough tech” at MWC 2016. We can’t yet say what it will be exactly, but we do know it relates to battery tech and cameras. Stay tuned to Android Authority for more on Oppo at MWC 2016.

Rumored: Oppo Find 9 launch

Considering Oppo will need a product in which to put its breakthrough camera and battery tech, we’re betting the Oppo Find 9 launch will be the centerpiece of Oppo’s press event.

OnePlus at MWC 2016

Confirmed: Nothing

OnePlus will have a presence at MWC 2016 as well, but won’t be launching any major new products. OnePlus isn’t holding a press conference either, so OnePlus’ MWC presence will be more about providing visitors a chance to get hands-on with their devices, accessories and power banks.

BlackBerry at MWC 2016

Rumored: A new BlackBerry Android device

The BlackBerry Vienna, BlackBerry’s rumored second Android device, could make an appearance at MWC 2016 but without a press conference scheduled this is starting to seem unlikely. There might be some other Android-related announcements to come from the company in Barcelona that don’t relate to new devices, or BlackBerry might simply want to be visible at the world’s largest mobile trade show.

Motorola/Lenovo at MWC 2016

Rumored: Lenovo Vibe launch

With everything that has been happening with Motorola lately, it seems unlikely that there will be any new Moto devices unveiled at MWC 2016. Indeed, Lenovo’s CEO has already confirmed a new Moto device in July. But its parent company is rumored to have a new Vibe smartphone ready for unveiling in Barcelona so stay tuned for more on that. Knowing Lenovo, there might also be some new Yoga tablets.

ZTE at MWC 2016

Confirmed: 5G products and “new smartphones”
When: February 21, 3 PM (6 AM PST, 9 AM EST)

ZTE issued a press release confirming that new 5G products will be shown at MWC 2016, including Ultra-Dense Network and Multi-User Shared Network technologies. The press release also mentions “smartphones and mobile devices” with a specific mention of ZTE’s AXON series.

Alcatel at MWC 2016

Rumored: Alcatel OneTouch Idol 4, Idol 4s and Pop 4 series

Alcatel has been leaking all kinds of devices in the lead up to MWC 2016: the OneTouch Idol 4, OneTouch Idol 4s and three new Pop variants: Pop 4, Pop 4S and Pop 4 Plus. The new Idol 4 models will ship with a VR headset built into the actual packaging of the phone, much like Google Cardboard.

That’s it for now, but we’l be adding more details as they arise and updating live as MWC 2016 news happens.

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Android N features: everything confirmed, rumored and expected

With Google I/O 2016 fast approaching, the new Android N release is not far away either. As confirmed at last year’s I/O, Google will now release major new Android updates yearly, following the path established with Lollipop. So for this year, we know we’ll see the Android N developer preview at I/O, followed by monthly(ish) updates until the full Android 7.0 release in October. Here are all the confirmed, rumored and expected Android N features.

Confirmed Android N features

Android N release date

As mentioned above, we already know that the Android N release date will be May 18, during Google’s annual developer conference, Google I/O 2016. The Android N developer preview will be shown off during Sundar Pichai’s keynote lecture on day one of the conference and the factory images will be made available later in the day.

The Android N release date will be May 18, after the Google I/O 2016 keynote.

The final Android 7.0 release date will coincide with the launch of the next-gen Nexus releases at the end of October or early November. This Android 7 release will be limited to Nexus devices at first and make its way to all other manufacturer devices and carriers networks over the next six months or so.

Multi-window mode

The first Android N feature to be confirmed was multi-window mode, with the confirmation coming, obscurely enough, via a Reddit AMA with the Pixel C team. During the discussion, Andrew Bowers confirmed that “split screen is in the works”. Of course, you can already get a version of stock multi-window mode in Android Marshmallow, but it’s far from polished.

Better tablet support

During the same Reddit AMA, Pixel C team member Glen Murphy came right out and confessed: “we’re working hard on a range of enhancements for this form factor.” While he didn’t go any further, these Android N tablet features could include: more functional multi-tasking (and I’m not just talking about multi-window here), a real push for tablet-optimized apps (rather than just blown-up phone apps), customizable nav buttons, DPI switcher, stock floating mini-apps and tablet-specific System UI Tuner features.

Moving to OpenJDK from Java APIs

Following a sticky situation with Oracle over “rewritten” Java APIs , Google will officially be making the switch to OpenJDK in Android N. It’s still Oracle code, but OpenJDK is, as the name, suggests, part of the open-source Java Development Kit. As Google confirmed: “we plan to move Android’s Java language libraries to an OpenJDK-based approach, creating a common code base for developers to build apps and services.” The change should make development for Android N that much simpler and external changes will be negligible.

Rumored Android N features

Android N name

The Android N name is the biggest game of the year, even more so than “who will make the 2016 Nexus?” You don’t need to have a sophisticated knowledge of the Android ecosystem or market to have a horse in this race, simply pick your favorite dessert that starts with an “n” and place your bets. The firm favorite currently is Android 7.0 Nutella, with Nougat coming a close second and a variety of indian desserts also being bandied about. Sundar Pichai even said he’d ask his mother or let fans vote for the official Android N name.

Sundar Pichai said he'd ask his mother or let fans vote for the official Android N name.

Stock stylus support

As we recently reported, Samsung may have hinted at stock stylus support in Android N by planning to retire several of the main S Pen features from its Look API. The Samsung developers page makes the notation that these features “will be deprecated in Android N” – a term used to describe a soon-to-be-obsolete feature. The natural assumption is that these stylus features will appear in stock Android 7.0. The same thing happened with battery saving in Lollipop and fingerprint support in Marshmallow.

ChromeOS integration

This one is a peculiar one. Last year The Wall Street Journal “confirmed” that Android and Chrome OS would be merged, only to have Google set the record straight soon after. While the initial report claimed that Chrome OS would be killed off, Google responded by saying it was fully committed to Chrome OS and the platform was “here to stay” but that it is looking at “ways to bring together the best of both operating systems.” It’s highly likely that we’ll see at least some implementation of Chrome OS and Android compatibility in Android N.

New messaging app

There’s a rumor doing the rounds that Google will be introducing an all-new messaging app with Android N to replace the largely unpopular Hangouts SMS/MMs integration. The new app will be based on the Rich Communications Services (RCS) platform, which allows for much more than just talk and text to be shuttled around, including video chat, file sharing and instant messaging. Google has publicly admitted its commitment to the RSC standard, but there’s no telling yet if it’s anywhere near ready for inclusion in Android N.

Expected Android N features

Return of the Dark Theme

The Dark Theme that appeared temporarily in the Android M preview builds vanished again to widespread dismay and still hasn’t made it back into an official Android Marshmallow update. Considering it’s such a popular feature request and AMOLED displays look set to take over the display market, we can only assume it will sneak back in as an Android N feature much like stock multi-window mode. Stock theme support would also be nice, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves too much.

Improved Smart Lock for Passwords

Android Marshmallow introduced Smart Lock for Passwords, a basic Google password manager that can store your app passwords so that any time you re-install an app you will be automatically logged in. Combined with Android’s revitalised app backup, the idea is that the whole process of setting up a new device is seamless. The only problem is that not that many apps support Smart Lock for passwords yet so its value is still largely underutilized. With any luck, Android N will see a lot more apps supporting the feature.

MOAR battery optimization

Battery optimization is and always will be one of the most important aspects of any Android release. Lollipop introduced a stock Battery Saver Mode and Marshmallow introduced Doze Mode and App Standby. Android N will likely refine these features – and hopefully allow Doze to work even when it’s in your pocket, much like Greenify’s new hibernation features do – and tweak Battery Saver in ways that make the default state of your phone a power-conservation mode.

Enhanced security and app stability

With the appearance of granular app permissions in Marshmallow, Google took a major step in the right direction: allowing users to choose the app permissions they were comfortable with on an app-by-app basis and reject those they felt were unreasonable. Because it was such early days, some apps that weren’t updated to allow such user-facing control tended to behave erratically. By the time Android N rolls out, Google should have committed devs to updating their apps to provide the same level of stability with or without certain non-critical permissions allowed.

Did we miss anything? Let us know what Android N features you’re expecting or looking forward to in the comments.

Read next: All the MWC 2016 announcements you can expect!

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