The AI ​​fever in the technology sector will reach a new peak during MWC 2024. From chips and gadgets to software, anyone without AI will no longer participate.

“This year we are holding a competition: count the places where AI is not discussed. Do you also want to take part?” asks Panch Chandrasekaran during a visit to the arm stand. We accept the challenge with good courage, but given that more than two thousand companies (spread over eight rooms) are represented at the Mobile World Congress, we quickly come to the conclusion that this is impossible.

However, you don’t have to walk around the exhibition floor for long to see the word “AI”. For years, MWC has provided an opportunity to stay up to date on the activities of large (and smaller) technology companies. This year, more than ever, one trend is dominating all others: AI. If you thought the AI ​​hype was already getting out of control in 2023, MWC is taking it a step further.

“AI on the device”

The AI ​​hype is transferring to technology in a number of ways. Starting with gadgets, which is still one of the main reasons why thousands of people come to the MWC trade fair every year. There is no shortage of new gadgets this year. At the CES trade show earlier this year, we were introduced to a new electronics phenomenon that is also omnipresent at MWC: the “AI PC”.

We’ve already discussed in detail why this is mostly a marketing term, but according to laptop maker Dell, there’s no doubt that in the long term, “every PC will be an AI PC.” We have now also welcomed the first delivery of “AI smartphones”. To receive the AI ​​PC/Smartphone designation, a device must have a powerful CPU and GPU as well as an in-chip “AI accelerator” (also called NPU) to run AI workloads on the device itself.

AI king Nvidia doesn’t have its own booth at MWC, although it does pop up here and there during keynotes and demo sessions, so it’s up to other chipmakers to steal the spotlight. Qualcomm is happy to take advantage of this opportunity. A friendly Qualcomm employee shows us a quick demonstration of how the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 controls AI-powered photo editing features on an Oppo Find She firmly believes that “AI on Device” is the future and encourages us to also admire the Snapdragon X Elite on a laptop that Qualcomm developed especially for the trade fair.

Will apps become obsolete?

AI is of course primarily a software event. Here too, the MWC exhibitors are not holding back. The acronym hangs on many trade fair stands, often because companies feel obliged to mention it somewhere. Microsoft brought Copilot, Samsung is designing its booth entirely based on Galaxy AI, but we’re also getting to know AI assistants we’ve never heard of before. The award for the most original name goes to T-Mobile: Magenta AI. The application itself is also original: With Magenta AI, you could have a hologram of the person you are talking to appear during a telephone conversation.

The German telecommunications group does not lack creativity. Tim Hoettges, CEO of the parent company Deutsche Telekom, shows a concept smartphone that no longer contains any applications during a keynote speech. Hoettges believes that deeper integration of AI on devices will soon make individual applications superfluous: “Within five to ten years, no one will be using applications anymore.” With his black turtleneck sweater, he brings back memories of the late Steve Jobs. Whether his statement will stand the test of time remains to be seen: Remember when Jobs once declared the PC dead?

Welcome to the “AI-Verse”

Chipmaker MediaTek is going one step further and is trying to start a new marketing hype during MWC 2024: the “AI-verse”. It creatively fuses this year’s trend with the topic everyone was talking about a year ago: Metaverse. However, this term seems to have become taboo in the technology industry, as no one at their booth dares to refer to the metaverse anymore.

So what is the AI-verse? A look at the Mediatek stand doesn’t really make us any the wiser. Etisalat, a Middle Eastern telecommunications company, is trying its best to bring the concept to life by putting a humanoid talking robot on the stage. While this gets a lot of attention, it tends to make us uncomfortable. If this were the AI-verse, it wouldn’t be immediately necessary for us. Etisalat’s robot isn’t the only thing giving us goosebumps: a giant virtual panda mascot from China Telecom stares at us with a seemingly innocent look every time we walk by.

One thing is clear after MWC 2024: AI fever has reached an all-time high. Everyone wants to participate in some way for fear of being forgotten. We haven’t seen or heard the last of AI.