Best Flagship: Xiaomi 14 Ultra
It’s difficult to look past the Xiaomi 14 Ultra with its array of cameras, stunning vegan leather finish, and performance thanks to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. Xiaomi hasn’t reinvented the wheel with the 14 Ultra, but rather, it’s improved an already excellent phone with its main camera sporting a new 1-inch sensor with a variable aperture.
The display has also been reimagined and has more subtly curved edges, offering more usability while still looking elegant. Xiaomi’s new Android 14-based HyperOS software brings
Perhaps more importantly, it’s the first Ultra variant that Xiaomi has committed to launching outside of China, thus giving Europeans another option when buying a true flagship smartphone.
Best Smartwatch: OnePlus Watch 2
The sleek design of the OnePlus Watch 2 won us over with its stainless steel chassis, 2.5D sapphire crystal display, and the rather handy IP68 water and dust resistance. Boasting a dual-processor design that helps the OnePlus Watch 2 claim up to 4 days of usage without charging, the smartwatch is more than just a good-looking smartwatch. Running Wear OS 4.0 out of the box with support for over 100 sports and Android 14’s Health Connect platform, the OnePlus Watch 2 has most bases covered.
Powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon W5 Gen 1 processor and accompanied by another chip called the BES 2700 MCU Efficiency chipset, which takes care of the more mundane tasks, the OnePlus Watch has all the performance it needs for every scenario.
Best Innovation: Honor Magic 6 Pro
Also packing the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor is Honor’s flagship Magic 6 Pro, which brings AI-infused features, a bold design, and an innovative 2nd-generation silicon-carbon battery. Boasting a 5,600mAh capacity, this silicon-carbon battery takes up the same space as the 5,000mAh unit in the Magic 5 Pro. The Magic 6 Pro is the first to use this second-generation battery technology, which also supports 80W wired charging and 66W wireless charging. One way or another, there’s absolutely no excuse to ever run out of juice with Honor’s latest flagship phone.
Honor’s Magic 6 Pro is already on sale in Western markets (other than the US, unfortunately) for €1,100 (~$1,200), and you can pick one up via the link below in Black or the stunning Epi Green Vegan Leather option.
Best Concept: Tecno Phantom Ultimate
While it’s still only a concept, Techno’s Phantom Ultimate rollable phone gives us a sneak peek at what future smartphones will become. Besides, the display extends from 6.55 to 7.11 inches at the press of a button to a small tablet size. It doesn’t sound like much, but it gives the user a much more helpful viewing area. The panel also extends to the rear panel, giving the ability to view notifications and such when the device is laid face down. There’s power to burn thanks to the presence of MediaTek’s Dimensity 9000+ chipset.
The only bad thing about Tecno’s Phantom Ultimate rollable phone is that it’s still only a concept and that, as you can probably imagine, there are still issues with durability to solve. That said, we’d still love to take it for a spin.
Best Accessory: Galaxy Ring
There’s a tremendous buzz about the Galaxy Ring wearable, which promises to bring the form factor to the mainstream market. Sure, there are already brands such as Aura offering smart rings, but Samsung’s Galaxy Ring will gain far more recognition and possibly boost the device segment from its current niche status.
Sleek and lighter than its current rivals, Samsung says the Galaxy Ring will be your 24/7 partner in health monitoring. More subtle in appearance than a smartwatch, the Ring will help provide more in-depth health insights into your well-being. We don’t know specifics, such as how much the Galaxy Ring will cost, nor all of its capabilities (will it also make mobile payments?), but it’s expected to launch sometime during the summer, and we can’t wait.
Best Tablet: Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro
Xiaomi’s tablets have long offered a well-specced (and more affordable) option compared to Samsung, so it continues with the Pad 6S Pro that packs a 12.4-inch display with 3K resolution, a 144Hz refresh rate, and a 3:2 aspect ratio. Powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor and boasting a 10,000mAh battery that supports 120W charging, the Pad 6S Pro can be fully charged in just over thirty minutes. That’s an incredible charging speed for a tablet.
Best of all, Xiaomi has priced the Pad 6S Pro at just $699, making it a great option to consider when buying a new premium tablet.
Best Laptop: Lenovo ThinkBook Concept
Finally, we couldn’t finish the line-up without mentioning Lenovo’s awesomely cool but almost certainly impractical ThinkBook concept, whose main claim to fame is a transparent display. Really. It’s futuristic and almost certainly follows the ideology of “We can do it” instead of “Should we do it.” Instead of a keyboard, there’s a secondary touch display, which is something that Lenovo likes to do even on production models.
It’s fantastic fun, and we love to see that sort of thing at trade shows like MWC 2024. As with Tecno’s rollable phone, the ThinkBook concept is just that, a concept. And while it’s not something we’d likely enjoy editing spreadsheets on, we love it all the same and applaud Lenovo’s imagination.
Many other devices could have been mentioned, some great, some not so great. Which gadget would you have picked to be included in this “Best of MWC 2024” collection? Let us know in the comments below.
