The IA gives oxygen to the smartphone market. But the US duties on Chinese products worry

A spectrum is around for the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, ​​the largest world showcase of wireless technology. Driven by enthusiasm for the potential of artificial intelligence, the fair must deal with concerns about commercial tensions fueled by the United States of Donald Trump. The MWC, to which about 100,000 participants are expected, It opened the day before the entry into force of the new American duties on Chinese products. And Europe is in the sights of the chief of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Brendan Carr, which defined the “excessive” technological regulations.

But the crowd that fills the pavilions of the fair since early morning in search of the latest innovations and ready to participate in the debates on the future of the sector does not seem too taken by other comparisons that instead animate the conversations between telecommunications managers who ask for a simpler regulation and greater freedom of merger of activities in Europe, while looking for more consistent margins to climb infrastructure investments.

Many exhibitors come from China Where important technological companies such as Huawei, Vivo and Oppo bloom, but smartphones and other products sold by Apple are also assembled. “Obviously a war of global duties would not be to anyone’s advantage”, although “nobody really knows what will happen” to trade, said Pekka Lundmark, CEO of the main Nokia network hardware manufacturer on the occasion of a pre-MWC event. Higher commercial costs may have an impact on the entire global technology and smartphone market if Trump will maintain the duties on China and extend them to other great economies such as the European one.

According to Carr, Brussels regulations, in particular the Digital Services Act (DSA), represent “a potential censorship” and said he was worried about the words with which the European Commission said he wanted to defend the technological legislation also in the face of the commercial measures threatened by the White House. Renate Nikolay, general deputy director for communication networks of the European Commission, said during a debate that the “difficult geopolitical context” means “that it is fundamental for Europe to guarantee its technological sovereignty and its strategic autonomy in the critical sectors”.

The IA features are – as was to be expected – everywhere: Almost each stand proclaimed the integration of technology everywhere, from consumption devices to telecommunication networks. Speaking via video connection, Google’s futurologist Ray Kurzweil has provided that within a decade the IA “will interact directly with our brain systems”, which, according to him, could enormously increase human intelligence. More prosaically, telephones producers show how technology can be useful to users of their latest models: from Samsung’s smartphone capable of carrying out simple activities required in natural language, to the Chinese Honor that incorporates a tool to detect “deepfake” images or videos created with the appearance of real people.

The generative IA has captured the attention of the sector making it a must for anyone who develops new devices. So if even before artificial intelligence was made accessible, smartphone sales had recovered from two years of contraction to expand by 6.3% in 2024, according to the IDC market analysis company there is reason to be optimistic on maintaining the momentum also for 2025, thanks to Chatgpt and its sisters.