‘Dumb phones’ burst into MWC 2026 as the antithesis of smartphones

One of the great paradoxes this year at the MWC, the global epicenter during this week of innovation and connectivity, is the gap it has left for voices that call for rationalizing the time of use of technology and promote “disconnection”, a trend that is gaining strength in the sector.

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Among those voices, the actor from the ‘Breaking Bad’ series stood out, Aaron Paul, who has become an activist in favor of a more balanced use of cell phones and other devices: “We are not going to be able to stop the development of these technologies, but we can create new ways of designing and producing less addictive cell phones,” he said.

The company Light, one of the first companies to bet on this new generation of minimalist mobile phones, has also gained prominence.

Its proposal is radical in its simplicity: black phones, without artifice or frills, with a basic screen and functional applications that allow you to call, take notes and consult directions.

No social media, constant notifications or stimuli designed to retain attention.

“It is not about giving up the mobile phone, but about offering another perspective, an alternative. Devices like Light Phones are like a camera: just another technological tool, which you use when you need it, but which does not capture your life,” said Light’s general director, Kaiwei Tang, in a speech at the congress.

You don’t go back to the past, you move forward

The aesthetic minimalism of these devices may remind us of the past, of those famous Nokias of the late 1990s, although Light’s promoters maintain that their phones are not the past, but rather “represent the future of technological development.”

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“It may seem like you are taking a step back, but in reality you are moving towards something more human. It is returning to our origins, yes, but moving forward: leaving behind the artificial to stay with intelligence and the more human side of technology,” a partner of the Light company, Eleph Kwong, explains to EFE.

The ‘Balance phones’, a halfway option

If the Light Phones represent the antithesis of the so-called smartphones, halfway there are the ‘Balance Phones’, a proposal promoted in Barcelona and that aspires to integrate the best of both worlds.

“There is too big a space between what is a basic mobile phone and what is a ‘smartphone’. We want to place ourselves right in the middle and create a device with which you do not have to give up anything in your daily life, but at the same time does not keep you exposed to all those addictive contents that steal our time,” explains the co-founder and creator of the Balance Phone, Carlos Fontclara.