After CES 2018, the tech world's attention shifts its focus to the Mobile World Congress 2018, wherein smartphone manufacturers make major announcements and reveals.
Speculation and supposed leaks point out Samsung's alleged plans to unveil this year's flagship model, the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus. Other brands that are suspected to make their respective announcements are LG, HTC, and Huawei.
However, several reports claim that the latter three's signature flagship units will allegedly pass off the opportunity due to each brand's respective reasons.
Samsung Takes The Spotlight
Given the rumored absence of the three of its closest competitors, most eyes will be on the South Korean electronics company as it purportedly flaunts Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845. On the other hand, as of this writing, a couple of new articles shared supposedly leaked photos of the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus, albeit the front-facing side only.
The rendered images apparently confirm some of the buzzes surrounding its design. A dedicated Bixby button and a curved bezel-less display are just some its noticeable features.
Rebooting A Lineup
Prior to CES 2018, it was rumored that LG would make the first move and unveil the LG G7 at the Las Vegas electronics expo. Industry analysts suggested that the two South Korean manufacturers might reveal their respective flagship units during the Consumer Electronics Show.
In its place, LG showcased a bunch of new high-end monitors, a 4K projector, and a new color scheme for the V30 mobile phone.
A report claims that Jo Seong-jin, LG Electronics vice chairman and CEO, changed tactic and told his team to cease development and redesign everything from scratch. The information allegedly came from a company insider who confirmed that existing work on the next installment of LG's premium model was halted. Hence, the Mobile World Congress 2018 won't see the G7 in action.
"Right after the vice chairman made the announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show last week, a direct order was sent down to the working-level officials to start over," the insider told The Korea Herald. "A new decision on a possible launch date will be released around the Lunar New Year holiday next month."
HTC And Huawei Bow Out
It looks like LG is not the only brand that will skip the Mobile World Congress 2018 for a separate unveiling. Industry experts suggest that Samsung will have very little competition from the likes of LG, HTC, and Huawei as all three will reportedly hold off the reveal of their flagship models for a later time due to respective reasons.
Others suggest that the ultimate winner is actually Qualcomm, whose latest Snapdragon 845 SoC is expected to be on almost every premium handset this year.
