Mobile World Congress 2021 (MWC 2021) is upon us. The conference is set to happen in Barcelona next month and it is where some of the world’s electronics giants meet to introduce new products or new concepts for 2021. It is a place where we might get to see new smartphones being launched as well.

Last year’s MWC was cancelled for obvious reasons. While MWC has kicked-off as a physical event for 2021, a lot of people still think it is a bad idea to attend the conference in-person. One of those people who recently decided that it was not a good idea is Samsung. Lenovo joined that boat soon after.

Samsung cited health and safety reasons for not attending MWC 2021 in-person. This does not mean that they are not participating in the conference though. Samsung will still be present at MWC remotely. In other words, MWC 2021 will still happen for Samsung, but taken completely online.

Samsung and Lenovo join several high-profiled giants in their physical absence in Barcelona for MWC 2021. Among the big names that announced their physical absence at Barcelona includes Sony, Nokia, Ericsson, Oracle, and even Google. All of them cited health and safety concerns for their staffs for not attending MWC 2021.

All of this is not particularly unexpected though. The COVID-19 pandemic that started in 2020 is still a major global concern with new strains discovered every other month or so. The current infection numbers are not particularly encouraging as well, leading governments to close their borders and restrict movements and employing tighter regulations to curb the pandemic. The decision to bring events online is also inline of Apple, Google, and E3’s decision to bring their conferences and events completely online and completely free to attend for people around the world.

While the numbers are dwindling, there are still some key attendees yet to announce their physical absence for MWC 2021 though. Among some of those names are LG and Xiaomi. LG though has announced that they are pulling out from the smartphone business recently.

GSMA claims that they have anticipated the move from manufacturers to back out of being physically present in MWC 2021. In light of the pandemic and their cancellation in 2020, GSMA has also developed their own virtual platform to ensure that participating brands can still have their MWC presence. The online platform also ensures that attendees still get to experience MWC 2021, albeit in a more personal and private manner.

Source: Reuters, Tech Crunch