Best of MWC 2026 – phones, tablets, handhelds, and robots

I’ve spent the last few days at MWC 2026 in Barcelona, checking out the latest and greatest mobile hardware from all over the world. After carefully assessing the booths, getting my hands on some exciting tech, and witnessing the rise of AI by means of dancing robots, I’m ready to name my stars of the show. So, without any further ado, let’s get into those highlights.

Best MWC phone – Xiaomi 17 Ultra

There was no shortage of Android flagship phones at MWC 2026, including the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and the Honor Magic8 Pro, but my winner is the Xiaomi 17 Ultra. It’s got a lovely design, offers top-tier performance, and its camera capabilities are second to none. Honestly, you can’t ask for much more than that.

If I had to describe the Xiaomi 17 Ultra in two words, it would be ‘peak flagship.’ I don’t know how much more smartphone manufacturers can improve the form factor, the user experience, or, what I’m most concerned about, the mobile gaming experience. I’m sure they’ll try, but for now, phones don’t come much better than this.

Best MWC foldable phone – Honor Magic V6

Honestly, the Honor Magic V6 could have easily won the award for best phone, but given we still don’t know just how much it’s going to cost, I’m not sure if it might be outside the price range of a few users. However, for those who can afford it, this is a really impressive foldable flagship, combining elegant design with industry-leading specs to offer a slice of real cell phone luxury.

The MWC floor wasn’t the first time I’d met the Honor Magic V6, as I was fortunate enough to get some hands-on time with it before the show. Not only does it look stunning, but it’s the most durable foldable to date, with an IP68 and 69 rating for dust-proofing and waterproofing, and a hinge that, according to Honor, is good for half a million folds. At this point, it feels like the V6 is almost destined for our list of the best foldable phones when it eventually launches.

Best MWC gaming phone – REDMAGIC 11 Pro Wuthering Waves Limited Edition

Okay, this one is a bit of a cheat, since I handled our REDMAGIC 11 Pro review and loved it, giving the gaming phone a 9/10 score. Outside of the design, there aren’t any real differences between this version of the phone and the one that currently sits atop our guide to the best gaming phones. It’s a performance beast, and its AquaCore liquid cooling tech keeps it from ever getting too toasty or throttling.

Still, the REDMAGIC 11 Pro Wuthering Waves Limited Edition looks even cooler than the regular version, with a futuristic red colorway that embraces that classic ‘gaming phone’ design rather than trying to look like yet another iPhone copycat. It’s the sort of phone that really grabs your eye, and you just don’t get enough of those these days.

Best MWC tablet – Honor MagicPad4

This one was tricky, as I do love the look of the compact Lenovo Legion Tab Gen 5, but the Honor MagicPad4 seems like a more sensible all-rounder. This tablet is a real feat of engineering, as while it’s ultra-slim and lightweight, it somehow packs a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, dual-direction vapor chamber, and a 10,100 mAh battery, which are the sort of specs you’d want from a gaming tablet, let alone a more mid-range all-rounder. Plus, it has new connectivity features with Apple devices, making it easy to adopt if you’re an iPhone or Mac user.

Just like the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro, the Honor MagicPad4 is a great reason to look further than just the best iPads when picking up a new tablet in 2026. This device beats out the latest iPad in terms of battery life and charging speeds, plus it has an OLED display, which makes it an even more viable tablet for those who like to mix productivity with a bit of gaming and streaming. If all that wasn’t enough, it just feels great to use.

Best MWC concept – Lenovo Legion Go Fold

MWC 2026 had its fair share of fascinating concepts, from the Honor Robot Phone to TECNO’s modular phone, but my winner has to be the Lenovo Legion Go Fold concept. It’s just an absolutely audacious handheld. As the name suggests, it’s a foldable gaming handheld, but not only that, it also features detachable controllers, so you can use the massive – and I will add, potentially too big – 11.6-inch unfolded display either horizontally or vertically.

I think the reason I loved this handheld so much is that every other Lenovo Legion Go model so far has felt like it’s copying the Steam Deck’s notes, whereas this feels like the next logical step for the form factor, even if I’d have thought it was the stuff of science fiction only a few years ago. The staff at the Lenovo booth were keen to remind me that the Legion Go Fold is just a concept for now, but it’s one I’ll keep my eye on as the handheld PC gaming market continues to develop.

Best MWC innovation – Honor Robot Phone

In terms of specific innovations, I can’t look past the Honor Robot Phone. While the Legion Go Fold is cool, it feels more like the culmination of the last few years of foldable hardware breakthroughs. The Honor Robot Phone, on the other hand, is unlike anything I’ve seen before, with its AI-powered gimbal system. It feels genuinely new, which is surprisingly rare in this era of relatively homogenous smartphone design.

I will add that given there’s still so much we don’t know about the Honor Robot Phone – most notably, how much it might cost or what sort of specs it might pack – there’s no guarantee that it’ll set the smartphone world on fire when it launches. However, it could just as easily be the spark the smartphone industry desperately needs to make ‘AI’ feel like less of a buzzword and more like something that can transform hardware and design, not just the software user experience.

Honorable mention – Honor’s humanoid robot

As well as multiple state-of-the-art devices, Honor brought something else to MWC 2026: a humanoid robot. It’s not exactly what I was expecting to see, but I have to mention it as, well, robots are really cool. From a technical perspective, it says a lot about Honor’s wider ambitions, but I just enjoyed watching it do a backflip and boogie on down to Imagine Dragons’ “Believer.” Look it up; trust me, you won’t regret it.

There you have it, our picks for the best of MWC 2026. For more on the latest hardware, check out our Xiaomi 17 review and Poco F8 Ultra review.