When you want to see the latest and greatest mobile gear set to arrive during the rest of the year, you head to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. And that’s where the Tom’s Guide mobile team has been the past few days, on the lookout for exciting phones, tablets and anything else that ranks as the best of MWC 2025.
We saw more than a few eye-catching phones, some of which will soon be launching. And there were a handful of concept devices that we hope will influence some future product.
This year, the big story turned out to be things that fold — and not just phones either, but laptops, projectors and potentially handheld gaming consoles, bringing a new degree of portability to the mobile world.
We’ve been up and down the Fira Gran Via in Barcelona so you don’t have to, and we’re ready to share the best and most intriguing things we found at this year’s mobile event.
Best phone: Xiaomi 15 Ultra
There’s a lot to love about the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, not the least of which is the Silver Chrome model’s retro-inspired design. Somehow, Xiaomi made the bulky camera bump work, as the entire phone resembles an old-school Leica camera. But there’s far more to this phone than being really, ridiculously good looking.
The Xiaomi 15 Ultra has an excellent set of cameras, strong battery life, and all the power the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset inside can afford. And that’s before considering a display that is an absolute delight to look at, even if you’re doing something mundane like browsing Google Play.
The AI features definitely need some work, and you shouldn’t expect an official release in the U.S. But it’s fair to say that the Xiaomi 15 Ultra has the complete package. — Tom Pritchard
Best value phone: Nothing Phone 3a
Nothing already makes a pair of the best cheap phones with the Nothing Phone 2a and Nothing Phone 2a Plus released in 2024. So it's not surprising that the Nothing Phone 3a and Nothing Phone 3a Pro introduced at MWC 2025 have taken things a step further.
Offering triple rear cameras, huge screens and batteries and speedy charging for less than $500 is an incredible deal, especially as other cheap phones keep getting more and more expensive. It's unfortunate that these phones could be a bit hard to track down, because either one could satisfy a huge number of potential users.
Samsung, Google and others all make good cheap phones, but they should take notes on how much Nothing offers for the same price — and in some cases, even less. — Richard Priday
Best design: Aurzen Zip Tri-Fold Projector
I never thought I’d come out of MWC liking a projector quite so much as I have with the Aurzen Zip. But it all comes down to how the thing is designed. Not only is the Zip small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, the adjustable tri-fold design means that the projector acts as its own stand —with the freedom to point the picture at any surface you have.
The 5,000 mAh battery is rated for 90 minutes of playback time, and the picture auto-adjusts to offer up to an 80-inch display. Connections are all wireless too, either via casting or with the use of a wireless HDMI dongle.
The downside is that the image maxes out at 720p resolution, but that isn’t actually that surprising given how small and portable this projector really is.The Aurzen Zip Tri-Fold is only 1 inch thick, and weighs just 0.62 pound, making it ideal for smaller apartments, traveling, or both. — Tom Pritchard
Best tablet: Honor Pad V9
I’ve been waiting for years for an Android tablet to stand up to the might of Apple’s iPad. And finally, the Honor Pad V9 has done it — taking on the 10th Gen iPad and winning with a gorgeous display, long battery life and a smooth AI-infused UI that gives it serious “it just works” vibes that should make the Cupertino crew nervous.
The design is seriously premium with a gorgeous aluminum back and lightweight at just 1.1 pounds. The NIL Nano-typography processed display glass to keep things smudge and fingerprint free, that 144Hz screen is buttery smooth and packed with crisp detail, and the AI features in MagicOS give you some fun generative opportunities to make this slab your own.
Add in a worry-free battery life peaking at more than 16 hours on one charge, and you’ve got a stellar system that feels great in the hand. — Jason England
Best innovation: Lenovo Thinkbook Codename Flip
Leave it to Lenovo to catch me off guard and pull out a laptop concept I’d never thought would work. Well, I was quickly proven wrong when I went hands-on with the Lenovo ThinkBook “Codename Flip” AI PC concept that boasts an 18.1-inch foldable OLED display. It takes the notion of a 2-in-1 laptop and bumps it up to a 5-in-1, as it can transition from a traditional laptop to a tablet to a long vertical display with dual screens within seconds.
Its specs look promising, too, thanks to the Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU and 32GB of DDR5 RAM. But the real star of the show here is that gorgeous OLED display that’s bright and full of color. Sure, there’s a display crease here, but for a laptop concept, Lenovo has already done a great job at making everything look and feel seamless.
It’s been a while since 2-in-1 laptops have really been shaken up, and Lenovo has found a way to deliver a full 18-inch display into a 13-inch laptop. While the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED has beat it to the punch (sort of) in terms of being a foldable laptop, this ThinkBook Flip stands out by being your typical 13-inch laptop — just with an extra-long display that you can fold or unfold as you see fit. — Darragh Murphy
Best concept device: Samsung Display Flex Gaming
Your standard candy bar gaming handheld is a little big to be truly portable. Don’t get me wrong — your average Steam Deck is easy to stash in your backpack, but I’m talking about pocketability here.
Samsung Display has what I believe is the near-perfect answer with its Flex Gaming concept— using a flexible 7-inch OLED screen to make this the perfect cross between a Nintendo Switch and a Game Boy Advance SP. The bendy display allows for this to be folded completely in half.
Samsung Display’s Flex Gaming is a breakthrough for handhelds that I can only wish becomes a widespread reality. Given how clumsy I am with my Deck and Asus ROG Ally, the chance to be able to fold it shut to protect all those vulnerabilities like the display and the buttons, could be a Godsend. — Jason England
Best AI product: Opera Browser Operator
Agentic AI is certainly doing things, but usually it’s slow, inaccurate, and definitely something you don’t trust to log into accounts for you. That’s because it all runs on a virtual machine, which analyzes screenshots taken by the agentic AI to guess what you want.
Opera does this a little differently, and ultimately they do it better as well! Built directly into the browser (no virtual machine needed), you can ask rather complex requirements. In fact, this is the first browser in the world to offer agentic AI alongside its Aria AI smarts built directly into Opera One R2 and Opera Air.
Opera Browser Operator is the next generation of web browsing, and after some time watching it, you can really see why — escaping the security issues of using the virtual machine system to the amount of time it takes. Being able to ask my browser to do it much faster on my own network has been huge for boosting my guitar knowhow. — Jason England
Product to watch: HMD X1
We don't always want to admit it, but smartphone use can have a negative effect on our wellbeing — especially anyone who’s young and more susceptible to pressure and unhealthy behaviors. Smartphone brands have reacted by bolting various kinds of controls and digital health features on top of their existing interfaces, but the HMD X1, a built-in partnership between HMD and kid-friendly tech brand Xplora, has produced a phone designed from the ground up to help young people grow into the smart device world. And I am curious to see if it works.
Having granular control over app permissions and approved contacts, direct access to the kid's phone from a parent device, options for tracking and concentration modes are all features that would please a cautious parent. Meanwhile, a high-res camera, big battery and a variety of handy case options should be enough to win over even the surliest teenager.
There are still questions hovering above this device, such as whether it's worth a monthly subscription to pay for all of these features and how HMD's promised AI features will further empower both child and guardian.
If things play out in HMD's favor though, this could be a big change in how new generations are introduced to tech that we ourselves may have started using before entering middle school. — Richard Priday
Best laptop: Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Aura Edition
Lenovo’s Yoga laptops have enjoyed a spot in the limelight over the past few years thanks to their ultraportable designs, brilliant battery life and impressive performance. And it looks like they’ll continue to shine bright thanks to the upcoming Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Aura Edition.
So, what makes this new Yoga device special? For starters, the powerful Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 GPU, thoughAI-driven features also stand out for creators. Think an AI image generator, handy image sharing between iPhone and Android phones via Smart Share and on-device AI to take advantage of third-party app features.
But that sleek, lightweight design Yoga laptops should be proud of also makes a return, along with a stunning 3.2K PureSight Pro display. This screen gets bright, like really bright at an overall peak brightness of 1,600 nits. That’s a display fit for any professional creative, and it’s impressed enough that I wouldn’t be surprised if it makes its way onto our list of best laptops.— Darragh Murphy
Best accessory: HMD Amped Buds
Along with my phone, the two items I often carry in my bag are a pair of headphones or earbuds, and a power bank in case either of those devices runs out of juice. Seemingly in answer to that, HMD has introduced a combination of the two with the Amped Buds.
These true wireless earbuds deliver active noise canceling and a resilient IP54 water/dust resistance rating. But the accompanying case doubles as a 1,900 mAh power bank. That means you can either get up to 95 hours of listening time from a single charge of the case or use that spare juice to top up a phone or other device in need.
You can do charge wirelessly via magnets too, which means this actually works rather well with MagSafe-equipped iPhones. It's a fun and practical idea, and understandably we are quite impressed. — Richard Priday
More from Tom's Guide
- Forget Galaxy S25 Edge — I just went hands-on with the world’s thinnest phone
- Tri-fold flip phones are coming and this concept device shows how they could work
- Here's a flip phone that will cost nearly half the price of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7
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