The Smartphone market urgently needs a new impetus. Just 0.1 percent of the global sales according to Gartner in the last quarter of 2018 compared to last year.

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the most important meeting point of the industry, the expectations are accordingly high. Market leader Samsung took an early Event in the MWC, however, already some Wind out of the sails.

The exhibition in the Catalan capital (25. to 28. February) should still provide plenty of conversation material. Last year the show attracted over 100,000 visitors and more than 2,400 exhibitors. In addition to new devices, the new mobile radio standard 5G is in this year once more in the center.

Feverishly to work, the Smartphone manufacturer currently on the reinvention of the mobile switching centre in pocket format. Hardly even the Premium devices from leading manufacturers are to be distinguished externally from each other.

Samsung ventures now already a few days before the Start of the trade fair with an actual production model of a foldable smartphone is out of coverage. In San Francisco – very close to the home of rival Apple in Cupertino presented the market leader Smartphone, Galaxy Fold, the Display changes expanded to a 7.3-inch Tablet. In the US, Samsung will 26, the device on. April 1980 the Dollar in trade, Europe will follow approximately a week later for the price of 2000 Euro.

At the MWC in Barcelona is likely to stay Samsung but alone. Also of Huawei industry observers expect that you can throw, at least, is a view of a similar device. The manufacturer hopes that folding can revolutionize phones the Smartphone usage, around 12 years after Apple’s first iPhone saw the light of the world. Nevertheless, the leading providers will concentrate more primarily on the optimization of your conventional Premium devices. For the presentation of its new smartphone Huawei P30, the Chinese manufacturer has chosen a different place and a different time: It is on the 26. March will be shown in Paris.

pretty sure, that the visitors to the MWC to get in this year, the first Smartphones to support the new wireless standard 5G. Samsung has announced a 5G-capable model in San Francisco. In Germany, it is likely to come on the market, even before the corresponding networks will be available. They wanted to be at the Start but ready, said Samsung Manager Mario Winter. Once 5G is available, it’ll be used.

That Smartphone users will be among the first beneficiaries of the fifth-generation mobile technology, is likely to be questionable. He is in the first line as the key for many new services, such as in the case of the connection of things in the industry (“industry 4.0”), for the implementation of modern traffic concepts, or even for Autonomous Driving. 5G allows the exchange of large amounts of data, practically in real time, with a theoretical speed of up to 10 gigabits per second. For phone Calls or to cover white spots in the supply, he was not meant to be, however, emphasized recently again by Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO of Vodafone Germany.

All the leading manufacturers of 5G technology is expected to bring their latest innovations to the construction of super networks to Barcelona. From 2020 the new Standard will be established in this country gradually. However, security aspects advanced in the past few months, more and more into the foreground. The United States declared Huawei a security risk, and suspects the company, among other things, of industrial espionage. In addition to vendors such as Nokia, Ericsson or Cisco could keep Huawei as the leading mobile radio supplier, therefore, at the MWC back a bit.

In Germany, is currently wrestling with a solution to avoid the exclusion of Huawei in the construction of the network and to arrange for the necessary security of the infrastructure. A difficulty with this in The 5G network is different than its predecessors, built on a decentralised basis, which opens up additional vulnerabilities. And: Entirely on components from the Chinese production can not do without. According to the estimates of some experts, Huawei techno logically has the nose in front and a lead of around two years. A waiver could thwart the Expansion of the network of sensitivity which could throw back for Germany in the digitization.

A large stage will feature the MWC in Barcelona traditionally, the mobile network operators. You will give an Outlook on the future of mobile communications and Entertainment with its new opportunities, such as with Augmented or Virtual Reality. On a political level is expected to be debated on the Keynotes and discussion forums, but also controversial. In this country the awarding rules for the new 5G resulted in frequencies last for a lot of vertebrae. Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Telefónica are drawn, among other things, from their point of view, to high requirements for the surface care in court.

dpa