The Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona is already around the corner, an unmissable event for the technology and telecommunications sector that will take place from March 2 to 5. This 2026 is not just another edition, because 20 years have passed since it began to be held in Barcelona.
The fair, organized by the international association of telecommunications operators GSMA, began in 1987 as a professional conference in several European cities (one of them Madrid), until settling in Cannes in 1996. This French city hosted it for 10 editions until moving to Barcelona in 2006.
Known as 3GSM World Congress in its first editions in Barcelona, in 2008 it adopted its current name of Mobile World Congress, or MWC. This year, its 20th edition will be organized in 2026, after the cancellation of 2020 due to COVID-19 – one of the first major events suspended due to the pandemic.
Two decades is a long time for a person, but also for a technology industry that has advanced so much that it is unrecognizable: from the dominance of flip phones and 3G networks, to the power of the smartphone and 5G or the push of new technologies such as artificial intelligence.
From 2006 to 2026, the fair has also transformed from a small but influential new event in the center of Barcelona, to one of the largest fairs held in Spain (and in Europe and the world), full of innovations and focus of multi-million dollar investments, although with a somewhat diminishing informative weight.
De Nokia al smartphone
In 2006, when the fair premiered in Barcelona, smartphones had already been invented, but almost no one was using them yet. In most of the world we were still stuck with stupid cell phones that could only make calls and not connect to the internet.
Although brands like BlackBerry experienced their boom times, at that time the ecosystems that were fighting were Symbian and Windows Mobile. Nokia was the best-selling brand in the world in the first year of MWC, with 35.8% of unitsfollowed by Motorola, Samsung, Sony-Ericsson and LG.
Everything has changed radically with the popularization of the smartphone, which accelerated the launch of the first iPhone, in 2007, and the Android operating system, in 2008, which together with iOS dominates the vast majority of the smartphone market. The dumphones They have remained a tool for digital disconnection and little else.
In 2025, Apple was the best-selling mobile brand and the only one that remains in the top 5 is the South Korean Samsung, second, ahead of 3 Chinese manufacturers: Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo, respectively.
From networks to hardware, and now to AI
The MWC began to be organized in Barcelona at a time of exciting transition for the telephone sector, as 3G networks, the first to allow moderately stable internet connections, were slowly beginning to become the norm.
In its first editions in Barcelona, The fair was very focused on networks and mobile phones were still seen as an extension of the operator’s services. Most people did not buy their cell phone, but rather obtained it through their telecommunications company.
This changed over time and smartphones became one of the great protagonists of the technology sector, displacing computers. And therefore, the launches of companies such as Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, Honor and company (not Apple because it has never participated) became some of the most anticipated announcements of the Barcelona event.
Over time, the number of large flagships that are presented at the MWC has been reducingin favor of their own events organized by each brand, instead of sharing the spotlight with their rivals in increasingly lackluster fairs.
Instead, new future trends in the telecommunications sector and technology in general have been gaining prominence. And yes, that in recent years is synonymous with artificial intelligence, which is everywhere lately in recent editions.
From the center of Barcelona to the enormous current headquarters
Not only has the content presented at Mobile World Congress changed, but so has the continent.
In its first editions, The event took place at the Fira Montjüica venue in the center of the Catalan capital. Although it represented a significant improvement over its predecessor in Cannes, it soon became too small for a fair that was increasing in audience and participants.
In 2013 the MWC moved to the Fira Gran Via, a larger exhibition center located in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, a town in the metropolitan area of Barcelona where the MWC still takes place.
This enormous complex, which also hosts other large events such as the ISE, has 240,000 m2 (it will be 300,000 when its expansion is finished) spread over 8 pavilions, and is one of the largest in Europe.
An event that raises millions
And with the increase in space, the reputation and economic impact it generates every year both for its organizers and for the city of Barcelona has also grown considerably.
Only in 2025, The MWC attracted 109,000 visitors from 205 different countries around the worldits historical record, which is estimated to be more than double that of the first editions of 3GSM at the old Montjüic headquarters. This generated economic activity worth 561 million euros and 13,000 temporary jobs.
In total, the GSMA estimates that the MWC has left Barcelona a multimillion-dollar footprint of 6.9 billion euros and 173,000 jobs temporary throughout the accumulated of the last 20 years.
These figures place the MWC as one of the most prosperous events on the global technology calendar, only comparable to the CES in Las Vegas, and the most important in Europe according to experts ahead of the IFA Berlin, which is more focused on consumption.