CCS Insight / Blog / MWC 2023, Monday 27 February

MWC 2023, Monday 27 February

Today, MWC officially opened its doors and we saw manufacturers such as Xiaomi and Lenovo launch new devices, operators commit to Open RAN, partnerships emerge for extended reality, and sustainability also receive attention. Below is our take on the biggest announcements. You can also find yesterday’s top stories here.

Opening the Mobile Network to App Innovation

Apple and Google created the app economy over 13 years ago by exposing the capability of mobile devices through APIs to enable apps to be created and bought from app stores. The transformation of mobile networks to become more cloud-like in design and less dependent on fixed-function hardware is enhancing that opportunity by making capabilities in the mobile network available to developers.

Orange, Telefonica and Vodafone, in collaboration with Ericsson and Vonage, showcased how network functionality can be made available to app developers and enterprises through the GSMA’s Open Gateway Initiative. The collaboration illustrated improvements to high-definition interactive video in gaming and productivity applications like Zoom, deployed on the live networks of Orange, Telefonica and Vodafone in Spain.

The demonstration was an engaging example of how network transformation will enable an exciting next phase of innovation for application development to the benefit of developers, consumers and enterprises. Device innovation has slowed markedly, but this is a reminder that the mobile ecosystem is shifting. If operators can maximize network investment and successfully engage developers and partners, this development represents a significant opportunity.

Qualcomm Teams with Operators for Extended Reality

Qualcomm hosted an event, chaired by CCS Insight, announcing a partnership with global operators including China Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, KDDI, NTT Qonoq, T-Mobile, Telefonica and Vodafone to develop its Snapdragon Spaces programme. This is designed as a toolkit for developers to build augmented reality applications and services on a set of common standards.

Qualcomm sees a vital role for operators in enabling the extended reality ecosystem thanks to their existing investments, especially in 5G networks, which are essential to enabling immersive mobile experiences. The operators present highlighted that extended reality provides a major growth opportunity and a chance to gain a more authoritative position in the mobile ecosystem.

CCS Insight has published a special report in conjunction with Qualcomm that explores this topic further. It examines these areas based on our interviews with global operators, and readers can access this report for free here.

Qualcomm also announced a new reference design from Goertek for its Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1 chipset, and teased a virtual or mixed reality headset from Oppo that we believe will use the chipmaker’s Snapdragon XR2 platform.

Microsoft Azure Private 5G Core Now Generally Available

Microsoft has announced that its Azure Private 5G Core network deployed on the Azure Stack Edge platform, first previewed at MWC 2022, is now generally available to deploy and manage core network deployments. New and enhanced features include support for 4G LTE and standalone 5G radios, rapid deployment on Azure Kubernetes Service on Azure Stack Edge Pro with GPU, and multisite deployment.

Also announced was the Azure Edge Network Fabric, a small, cloud-managed container network function, and RAN Observability, which collects and analyses key performance indicators in the radio access network (RAN) through Azure Private 5G Core dashboards.

The solution has simplicity at its core, aiming to simplify deployment and management of an enterprise network. This is especially important when enterprises begin to roll out private 5G networks to multiple sites, which our latest research suggests is already starting. The market is moving away from single-site trials to larger multisite deployments, with the average number of networks per customer rising to 2.1 in 2022 from 1.6 in 2021.

Microsoft, like Amazon Web Services and other hyperscalers, is ramping up activity in its private 5G network offerings. Although current examples of commercial deployments by hyperscalers are limited, we believe they will continue to gain share in 2023 and beyond. Using their experience in providing scalable solutions with integrated applications and management software, as well as their established relationships in enterprise workflows, hyperscalers are well-positioned to drive adoption of private mobile networks and turn a profit.

Xiaomi Announces Latest Flagship Smartphones

Xiaomi unveiled its 13 and 13 Pro smartphones, designed to compete with other top-end devices. Both are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, which promises impressive performance upgrades. They also offer up to three hours more active battery life than its previous devices. The launch heavily emphasized camera capabilities thanks to a partnership with Leica, but CCS Insight felt that the deep focus on specific sensors lacked any real punch.

Xiaomi has been known to undercut rivals with impressive phones at low prices. But its 13 and 13 Pro series start at €999 and €1,299 respectively, pitching them directly against flagship titans Apple and Samsung. The Samsung Galaxy S23, launched just weeks ago, is currently priced at €959 in Spain, and we don’t expect Xiaomi to be able to realistically compete in this price range.

The same is true of Xiaomi’s new Watch S1 Pro and Buds Pro 4. They’re priced from €299 and €249 respectively, and so compete with some of the latest offerings from Apple and Samsung. The Watch S1 Pro in particular offers very little to help it to stand out from cheaper watches.

One part of Xiaomi’s pitch that seemed underdeveloped was sustainability. The company showed a brief video outlining its concern for the environment but there was no mention of changes to its product design or care for end-of-life products. Xiaomi’s lack of engagement was striking, especially at a time when rivals are putting heavy emphasis on their environmental efforts to respond to customer interest. Our latest Connected Consumer Radar found that 67% of Britons agree that it is important to know what companies do for the environment, but only 29% currently have enough information about these efforts.

Xiaomi seems keen to evolve its position in Europe and transition from a challenger brand to a contender at the premium end of the market. We expect it to struggle to do this; its success has largely been built on keen pricing and a strong presence in certain markets, and we expect that customers with the means to buy premium devices will continue to choose Apple and Samsung.

Samsung Announces vRAN 3.0 Enhancements

Samsung’s vRAN 3.0 is the next iteration of its virtualized RAN software, with new features that focus on energy efficiency and performance optimization. It includes tools that increase bandwidth support of massive-MIMO radios; by providing three-cell configuration with 200 MHz of bandwidth support, Samsung can more than triple radio bandwidth support from its previous solutions. To improve energy saving, the software can analyse hourly traffic patterns to optimize conditions and automate networks, including an automation-based CPU “sleep mode” during periods of low data traffic.

Samsung Cloud Orchestrator, the firm’s solution for automating life cycle management of large-scale virtualized RAN, streamlines onboarding and deployment processes. The firm claims this makes it easier to manage hundreds to thousands of cell sites from a unified platform.

For the virtualized RAN concept to continue to gain market traction, it must evolve in terms of products and capabilities that help operators improve capacity and simplify deployment, management and scale-up of virtualized RAN networks. Supporting the automation of virtual RAN deployments on private and public clouds is increasingly important as operators and enterprises pursue multicloud strategies.

Furthermore, using artificial intelligence to reduce power consumption is vital, particularly in the RAN, which is the most energy-intensive domain in the network. We explore this type of artificial intelligence-based approach in a recent blog post, available here.

Honor Commits to European Growth with New Smartphones

At one of the few large smartphone launch events inside the MWC venue, Honor held the global launch of its Magic5 smartphone series and Magic Vs foldable. The Magic5 Pro is a successor to the Magic4 Pro and has top-line specifications, albeit with a price tag to match at €1,199.

The Magic5 Pro scored the highest TUV Rheinland score to date for any smartphone in overall display performance and global camera rankings, reflecting Honor’s commitment to the new flagship product. The firm also said that the Magic5 Pro uses a silicon-carbon, rather than graphite composite for its lithium-ion battery. Honor claims that this is an industry first and can deliver over 12% more “energy density”. It’s unclear exactly what this means for performance or longevity, but we understand it helps with faster charging and battery capacity.

Honor now faces a huge challenge as it seeks to build its brand in Europe, which it acknowledges will take several years. In the face of intense competition, not only from market leaders Apple and Samsung, but also rival Chinese players such as Oppo, which are making eye-watering investments in the market and distribution channels, Honor will have to work hard to get its products included in the line-up from operators and retailers.

MediaTek Reveals Dimensity 7200 Chipset

MediaTek is showcasing its Dimensity 7200 chipset, announced shortly before MWC. It’s targeted at mid-tier mobile devices, combining 5G connectivity and gaming capabilities into a relatively affordable package. We expect its most direct competitor to be Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7 series platform. MediaTek has been making strong inroads into new segments beyond low-cost smartphones, and we expect this latest design to continue to put pressure on Qualcomm.

Nokia Bolsters Mission-Critical Industrial Edge Capabilities

Nokia announced it has boosted the capabilities of its MX Industrial Edge product by adding Dell’s PowerEdge servers to process Industry 4.0 uses. The company also introduced GPU support for advanced real-time video analytics applications, as well as to unlock potential AI and machine learning uses. Nokia’s MX Industrial Edge will be offered in a hardware-as-a-service model.

The uses mentioned above create demand for high-capacity, on-premises edge processing, so this advancement further increases Nokia’s processing power to handle demanding and complex workloads. Offering MX Industrial Edge in a hardware-as-a-service model lowers the upfront cost and reduces capital expenditure. This should allow more enterprises to digitalize operations, such as through autonomous robots, real-time situational awareness and zero-fault manufacturing using advanced real-time video analytics.

Lenovo’s Flaxseed Laptop Is a Big Step Forward for Sustainability

Lenovo introduced an updated ThinkPad Z13 with a cover made from flax fibre, replacing the vegan leather model released in 2022. The laptop’s outer shell is based on woven strands of flax fibre from the stem of the flaxseed plant, encased in a “bio-based resin” for durability, connected to a metal top cover, made from 75% recycled aluminium.

Replacing the typical metal or plastic with flax fibre is a step in the right direction for sustainability, not least because flax is considered by many to be one of the most sustainable fibres available. In CCS Insight’s latest survey of sustainability in corporate IT, respondents selected overall community benefit or social impact as the most important sustainability consideration when buying IT hardware and services. For more on this research, contact us.

Lenovo is also transitioning to biodegradable packaging that can be composted and completely breaks down in six to 18 months. It’s a move that chimes well with the findings from our survey and aligns with the direction of buying dynamics of IT products and services, with 61% of respondents agreeing that there’s a strong demand for sustainable solutions.

Lenovo’s ThinkPad Z13

Slow Progress in Augmented Reality

There are plenty of smart glasses on display at MWC, varying greatly in appearance and feature set. Oppo’s Air Glass 2 offers an iterative update to last year’s device, expanded to a dual-waveguide display built into a very slim and light design. But uses for this product are limited to flat content, such as Oppo’s teleprompter app, rather than 3D applications.

Xiaomi unveiled its Wireless AR Glass, powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2 chipset, but this seems to remain a concept device that it doesn’t yet plan to launch. ZTE also showed its nubia Neovision glasses, which offer a simple display mirroring technology through a USB-C cable, much like its Nxtwear S product.

Although smart glasses continue to attract attention, the devices on the show floor seem to offer only marginal improvements over those we saw last year. There’s plenty of optimism about extended reality right now, especially after Samsung, Google and Qualcomm announced plans to work together, but real progress in commercially available products remains slow. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1 silicon is intended to inspire new designs of smart glasses based on split rendering with a smartphone, and we await the first devices using the chipset later in 2023.

Telefonica Completes Trial of End-to-End Network Slicing Solution

The trial was conducted in partnership with NTT Data, with technology from Cisco, Mavenir and Nokia. Touting the move as a “milestone” for network automation and network-as-a-service, Telefonica said it achieved “full automated end-to-end network slicing life cycle management and service assurance uses”. It demonstrated that the allocation process for an end-to-end network slice from core, radio and transport can be less than 25 minutes, which Telefonica attributed to the solution’s automation features. Telefonica aims to bring the technology to its live networks soon.

Network slicing is still in its infancy, but this sort of demonstration moves it beyond a concept to something more tangible. Network automation and network-as-a-service concepts are important steps in delivering network slices as automated services. Network slicing is a significant part of many operators’ 5G revenue-generation strategies, but it needs to be executed in a simple and agile way to become commercially successful.

Deutsche Telekom Confirms Commercial Open RAN Roll-Out Plans

At its press conference this afternoon, the German operator announced that in 2023 it will begin deploying Open RAN in Germany with Nokia and Fujitsu, and in its other European markets with Mavenir. It revealed few further details but reinforced its commitment to the technology amid growing pessimism in the industry at the slow rate of progress. On the eve of MWC, five leading European operators, including Deutsche Telekom, published a report addressing various concerns about Open RAN, for example security and energy efficiency.

If you’d like to discuss any of the stories we touch on here, please get in touch. And if you’re attending MWC, enjoy the show and come meet us at our stand! We’ll be back tomorrow with the top announcements from day two.

Posted on February 27, 2023
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