OPINION: MWC has always hosted big smartphone launches. In recent years, it has focused mainly on Chinese brands, with manufacturers like Xiaomi, Honor, Realme, ZTE, and others using the European event as a springboard for international releases. MWC 2025 is no different.
The fun is set to start before MWC officially kicks off on Monday morning, with Xiaomi, Honor and HMD all announcing products on Sunday afternoon. TCL, ZTE and Realme are also set to join in on the fun on Monday – and the latter has one of the more interesting MWC teasers.
In addition to revealing the Realme 14 Pro collection for a wider (presumably European) market, the manufacturer has also teased the reveal of an ‘ultra camera phone’.
It’s not clear whether it’ll be a full reveal or a teaser ahead of an announcement later, but it sounds like a fantastic bit of kit with “cutting-edge optical imaging that elevates mobile photography to DSLR levels”.
Based on official teasers from Realme, the ‘ultra’ camera phone will sport a customised 1-inch Sony sensor for “ultra clarity” and a telephoto camera with a whopping 10x optical zoom. That’s not something we’ve seen since the Galaxy S23 Ultra, before it was ditched for an (arguably more useful) high-res 5x periscope lens with the S24 Ultra and later.
The company has even shared a few shots taken on the smartphone using the 10x sensor – which translates to 234mm – that look absolutely phenomenal. The close-up of the pinecone boasts a soft, professional-looking bokeh while the close-up of the model’s face boasts enough detail that you can make out the environment from the reflections in her eye.
I’ll hold off on making a judgement until I play with the phone on the show floor next week, but it certainly looks like it could challenge the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, Oppo Find X8 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max in the camera department, and it’s not the only one either.
Xiaomi has been teasing ‘pinnacle performance’ ahead of its event on Sunday afternoon, where it’s widely expected to launch not only the Xiaomi 15 for international markets but also the new Xiaomi 15 Ultra. The latter has just launched in China, and given that the rear camera bump looks almost identical to the outline in the official Xiaomi teaser, it’s almost a done deal at this point.
It’s not exactly a surprise given the Xiaomi 14 and Xiaomi 14 Ultra both launched at MWC last year, but it’s still an exciting launch especially for smartphone photography fans.
Simply put, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra had one of, if not the best camera system of any 2024 smartphone. It not only had a huge 1-inch sensor powering the 50MP main camera, but it offered a versatile set of telephoto and periscope lenses that allowed it to easily match the likes of the S24 Ultra, and I’m expecting much of the same this year.
In fact, with the phone now official in China, we’ve had our first look at the upgraded camera setup – and it’s just as impressive.
The 1-inch-backed main sensor returns alongside the 50MP 3x floating telephoto lens and 50MP ultrawide lens, though the 50MP 5x periscope lens has been switched out for a higher-res 200MP 4.3x alternative. Matching that of the Honor Magic 7 Pro and Vivo X200 Pro, it’s one of the highest resolution periscope cameras on the market right now.
Given Xiaomi’s ongoing relationship with camera manufacturer Leica, I’m also expecting exceptional camera tuning. I’ve always been a fan of Leica-backed Xiaomi cameras (the floating telephoto of the Xiaomi 13 Pro won my heart back in 2023) so I’m very much looking forward to spending time with the phone once it’s official.
Combined with the mysterious ‘ultra’ camera phone from Realme, MWC is gearing up to be a smartphone photographer’s dream – and I can’t wait to walk the halls of the Fira and see it all for myself next week.
