Members of the press have started receiving invites for Huawei’s MWC 2017 conference where the Chinese smartphone maker states it will unveil “a new flagship device” on February 26th, a day before the Barcelona-based trade show officially begins. The wording of the announcement coupled with recent rumors suggest the company will use this opportunity to announce the Huawei P10, a successor to the Huawei P9 and the P9 Plus. Richard Yu, the Chief Executive Officer at Huawei, is expected to personally unveil the company’s next Android flagship in Barcelona. Although, Huawei did not elaborate on this in its latest media invite.
While the Shenzhen-based consumer electronics manufacturer has traditionally revealed new additions to its P lineup in spring, at least a month after MWC, the company’s growing ambitions in the smartphone segment may be leading to the decision to announce the P10 at the biggest mobile trade show. Seeing how Yu himself recently said Huawei will be releasing the P10 and the P10 Plus in either March or April, it isn’t a huge stretch to presume Huawei will skip its traditional unveil event and simply announce its next flagship device at MWC. As for the device in question, not much is known about the Huawei P10 at the moment. The larger version of the phone is rumored to sport a curved panel, while Yu previously said both models will ship with Amazon’s Alexa, just like an upcoming US variant of the Huawei Mate 9. Another recent rumor suggests the P10 and the P10 Plus will both feature a dual camera system.
Needless to say, this is just speculation at the moment as it will likely remain unclear as to what Huawei brings to this year’s MWC until the announcements are made next month. Regardless, MWC 2017 is bound to be an interesting event, even if Samsung goes through with its alleged decision to hold off until April for its Galaxy S8 reveal. Without Samsung, there’s still going to be a huge amount of announcements coming through, with likely the Huawei P10 and the LG G6 both making an appearance. Not to mention, a number of other promising smartphones to look forward to. For instance, Nokia will supposedly be showcasing its new offerings in Barcelona, as well.