Wareable’s back at MWC 2024 – and at the epicenter of the mobile industry’s plans for the year ahead.
Mobile World Congress isn’t usually a good hunting ground for wearables, but this year has been richer than usual.
We’ve managed to get hands and eyes on a host of new devices.
Here’s our best in show.
Samsung Galaxy Ring
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After teasing the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Ring at its Unpacked event, the Korean giant showed off the ring physically at MWC.
Sleep monitoring and wellness will be the core use cases, and Samsung has outlined a new Vitality Score, which feels similar to the recovery and readiness metrics found on the likes of Oura, Whoop, and others.
The ring itself comes in silver, gold, or black and features a gently concaved design that elevates it above contourless smart rings.
With Honor now confirming a smart ring, it does feel like Samsung has fired the starter pistol on the smart ring race this year.
Xiaomi Watch 2 / Watch 2 Pro
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This new Wear OS smartwatch from Xiaomi has the power to challenge the likes of the Galaxy Watch 6 and Pixel Watch 2 on battery life and price.
The design is fairly unassuming, but it will run Wear OS 4 (according to a source at Qualcomm) despite the sample on the stand running Wear OS 3.5.
The Xiaomoi Watch 2 costs just £169, and the Watch 2 Pro comes in at £269 – undercutting the likes of the Google Pixel Watch 2.
It’s an attractive price given that it runs Qualcomm Snapdragon W5+ and boasts an excellent 65 hours of battery life (2.5 days).
It also has multi-band GNSS on board, with 160 workout profiles.
After years of flirting at the edges of smartwatches, Xiaomi has landed a punch.
OnePlus Watch 2
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OnePlus showed off the Watch 2 at MWC 2024, and we managed to catch up with the device at the Qualcomm booth.
It’s powered by the company’s new Qualcomm Snapdragon W5 processor and a separate RTOS co-processor, which combines to squeeze out 100 hours of battery life – equalling 4 days between charges. It's an astounding achievement for a full-fat Wear OS 4 watch, and challenges the TicWatch Pro 5 for staying power.
It’s set to cost $299 and has a chance to redeem itself after the original OnePlus Watch horror show.
Humane AI Pin
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There was a rolling demo of the Humane AI Pin on the Qualcomm stand at MWC, and it permanently attracted an engaged huddle of onlookers, all curious and captivated by the tiny clip-on wearable.
We got a rendition of the Humane AI Pin’s repertoire of features, from taking photos to answering questions via voice (à la Alexa) and then either reading out the answer (via a paired speaker( or translating it into AI-generated text and projecting it onto the hand.
It also projected our captured image and translated (slowly) some German language of a volunteer.
The Humane AI Pin certainly isn’t a prime-time product, although it is on sale in the US starting at $699. with a $24 subscription for the data. It doesn't pair to your smartphone for data and is totally standalone.
But it’s certainly an incredible proof of concept of what AI-powered tech could look like. But what that concept is, we, and Humane, still aren't sure. The company told us that it was at MWC to find out exactly what European customers might use the device for.
The Motorola bendy wearable phone
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I wouldn’t have pegged MWC as the home of adventurous concept devices, but that’s exactly what we got served up from Motorola – and despite being absurd, it’s fun, different, and ambitious.
The bendy phone features stips of separated batteries that enable it to flex back on itself “Like the human spine,” according to Motorola.
It can then attach to a magnetic wristband to be worn as some kind of giant cuff. Why? No idea. But it perhaps shows that flexible screens could be the future of wearables and smartwatches – just not quite as thick as this.
Oppo Air Glass 3
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I tried the Oppo Air Glass 2 at MWC last year, in what was inevitably a soul-crushing afternoon of AR disappointment. But this year’s Air 3 perhaps shows a bright future.
The glasses are a little bigger and dorkier than the Air Glass 2, but the visuals placed in your vision are now bigger, brighter, and full color.
Weighing just 50g, the Oppo Air Glass 3 features a redesigned waveguide with a brightness of more than 1,000 nits.
The graphics were placed front and center in your vision, and it features a much larger FOV. And the full-color UI was far easier to read without getting eye strain.
It does block your vision, of course, but you can quickly toggle on/off visuals with a button on the glasses arm. You can also summon Oppo's AI voice assistant from there with a quick tap.
Much, much better from Oppo.
Xiaomi Watch S3
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Another new Xiaomi smartwatch – this RTOS device doesn’t use Wear OS, instead opting for the company’s new HyperOS. While it forgoes Google’s services, it does offer 15 days of battery life – and has a neat trick up its sleeve.
You can swap colored bezels to completely change up the look, and each bezel is complemented by a strap and watch face. When you pop on a new bezel, the watch will automatically ask you if you want to add the requisite watch face—a neat touch.
The watch is listed on Xiaomi’s site at a very reasonable £119 ($150) – not bad when you consider it has multi-band GNSS on board for more accurate workout tracking.
Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 8 Pro Global Edition
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Capping off a very busy show of wearables for Xiaomi, the Mi Smart Band Pro 8 got a global outing.
We've been tracking it for a while, but it offers a large 1.74-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 336 x 480 pixels, GPS, and a 15 day battery life. It's also on sale for £54 ($68), which is pretty tasty.
Read our Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 8 Pro vs Smart Band 8.
How we test
James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.