MWC 2026: The best wearables and AI hardware announcements
Forget robots and smartphones—these are the real winners from the Barcelona show
After a few days of packed halls at MWC 2026-there It is affordable The team dodged everything from spinning robots to King Felipe VI—the Barcelona showdown is officially in the books.
Arguably there were fewer hardware launches in wearables than in previous years, with much of the focus being on 6G and AI infrastructure. However, the telco-first nature of the conference didn’t stop a few interesting wearable announcements from happening.
While most brands are clearly waiting for agent AI to really evolve, the arrival of a new generation of silicon from Qualcomm suggests that the floodgates are about to open.
From Android XR to Wear OS watches, here are the best wearables and announcements from MWC 2026.
Snapdragon Wear Elite
While you won’t be wearing the chipset, the Snapdragon Wear Elite was arguably the most important announcement of the show.
Qualcomm has successfully hit the reset button on wearable design, moving to the 3nm process and introducing a dedicated NPU (Neural Processing Unit) on the wrist.
It’s a fundamental change for a field that is often dominated by the smartwatch. Now, by enabling multi-billion-parameter AI models to run on the device, this chip is designed to power what Qualcomm calls the ‘Ecosystem of You’—taking AI out of your phone and into watches, pins, and pendants. With a promised 5x jump in CPU performance and 30% better battery efficiency, this is the silicon that will likely define the genius of all the flagships of 2027.
It was Fira news that felt unprecedented and unexpected—and a Qualcomm representative at the show told. It is affordable that it is likely to be the start of a more consistent wave of updates to the line of chips, given the expected increase in demand for AI hardware updates.
Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro
We actually got our hands on these just before the show—at the official Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event that was revealed last week—but their heavy presence alongside the latest flagship phone at MWC confirmed Samsung’s AI focus here.
The premium-feeling ‘blade’ design is a departure from the old, with a focus on a more secure fit and metal finish. And the geniuses are an extension of what came to the last generation.
Gemini (or Bixby) is still there to power the AI experience, while native Head Gestures—nodding to accept calls or shaking your head to dismiss a notification—are the subject. Combined with a 22-language Interpreter mode, the Buds 4 Pro come across as a very thoughtful pair of earphones. And they’re a far cry from the in-ear capabilities of, say, the AirPods Pro 3.
Huawei Watch GT Runner 2
After a four-year hiatus, Huawei is back in the race with the GT Runner 2. After officially launching the watch last week in Madrid, it helped make it to the Fira de Barcelona.
On paper, it’s a powerhouse: a lightweight titanium alloy chassis, a stunning 3,000-nit display, and a ‘floating’ 3D notch designed to fix its predecessor’s GPS issues. It also introduces Marathon Mode, developed with elite feedback, to provide real-time travel and replenishment guidance.
However, after putting the new running watch through our tests over the past few weeks, the real-world picture is even more complicated. At £349, it’s a great, comfortable watch with a week-long battery, but it doesn’t have the reliability needed to unseat Garmin or Coros for serious marathoners.
Xiaomi Watch 5
Xiaomi hasn’t brought a Wear OS watch to the global market since the Watch 2 series, so the Watch 5 marked a welcome return when it was announced last weekend at Xiaomi’s MWC press conference.
Running Wear OS 6, it’s a much more demanding option, a little cheaper than the Google-Samsung duopoly. And if you’re wondering why the product jumped from Watch 2 to Watch 5, we can only suspect that it’s to keep up with the ‘S’ generations of non-Wear OS watches.
The highlight of the hardware is the 930mAh silicon-carbon battery, which Xiaomi says can be extended to 18 days in power saving mode. There are also EMG touch controls, which use electrical signals on your arm to let you tap your fingers to activate the Gemini.
We weren’t able to take this one for a full test yet—confusingly and frustratingly, the product didn’t have any working models on display ready for testing. However, it comes as a more robust looking alternative to the Galaxy Watch and Pixel Watch.
Smart glasses for Android XR
In the outdoor space between Halls 2 and 3, there were several Android demos. It felt like trying out those old Windows Mixed Reality headsets that went away.
As we await Google’s first Android XR smart glasses, the example provided here provides a glimpse of what to expect. What Google showed was classic design cue fodder—and probably most similar to the clear-lens streetwalker style of Ray-Ban’s Meta sunglasses. Actually, it’s a much smaller version than the one worn by the Android mascot above.
We expect a full retail version of Google’s specs later this year, with collaborations with Warby Parker and Monster already confirmed. And, after seeing what Qualcomm has up its sleeve with the Wear Elite platform, we have high hopes for this project.
RayNeo Air 4 Pro
After releasing the standard Air 4 in China late last year, RayNeo’s stand has been a hive of activity thanks to the recently released Air 4 Pro.
At least in the way we define true wearables, these glasses have a definite edge; as before, they are not trying to be a ‘proper’ AR. Rather, it’s a 200-inch wearable display in your pocket. However, with a few wearables from the show to be excited about, we include them here.
The Batman Edition—which we didn’t actually see on the floor, but pictured above—added some much-needed smarts for MWC, and the technology remains solid in our quick gameplay of the Nintendo Switch 2. It’s low-latency, delivers clean visuals, and weighs only 76g. They’re among the most convincing screen-in-your-face solutions we’ve tried yet.
TimeKettle W4 AI Interpreter Buds
After giving credit to IFA and CES in recent months, Timekettle has arrived in Barcelona to show its leaves at the conference for the first time. There wasn’t really anything new on the stand here, but it gave us another chance to see products like the AI Interpreter Buds in action.
Most translator sites fail in noisy crowds because they can’t pick up anything from the user amidst the ambient din. The W4 range solves this by using what TimeKettle calls an ‘AI Bone-Conduction Pickup’ to capture vibrations directly from the vocal cords.
Paired with the new Babel OS 2.0 and the ‘SOTA Engine Selector’ that automatically selects the best translation engine for a specific language pair, W4 still feels like the most professional-grade version of intelligent, real-time translation in the wearables industry that’s really starting to take advantage of the feature.
Xgimi MemoMind smart glasses
Xgimi was on hand at the show to continue the launch of its new flagship, the MemoMind, as well as a wide range of projectors. As we saw during the first launch at CES in January, the company was showing the Memo One and the Memo Air Display.
The flagship Memo One packs dual eye displays, built-in speakers, and a full range of AI features, including translation, summarization, reminders, and status guides. The Memo Air Display, on the other hand, strips things back with a simple monocular design, weighing just 28.9g, aimed at those who want to be smart without visual clutter.
In our time, the neon-green UI was sharp and readable—very similar to the Even Realities G1—though the arms and general fit felt less polished than those on the Meta smart glasses range. Still, it’s a solid start from a brand that knows how to predict, even if the frames aren’t quite ready for prime time yet.
Moto Buds 2 Plus
Motorola’s latest audio flagship, the Moto Buds 2 Plus, is a clear attempt to bring high-end tuning to the sub-$200 market. Featuring ‘Sound by Bose’, these buds prioritize high signal-to-noise ratio and surround sound.
As far as we’re concerned, the standout feature is CrystalTalk AI, which aggressively filters out background noise to isolate the speaker’s voice during calls.
While they don’t quite have the ‘wow’ factor of the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, the inclusion of live AI rendering and automatic wear detection at this price point makes them a solid option for the Android crowd to consider.
Xpanceo smart contact lens
Dubai-based Xpanceo returned to MWC with a digital demonstration of its next-generation contact lens technology. It was one of the highlights of our program last year, so we were encouraged to see it again at Fira to talk about the progress that had been made.
While we’re still looking at the prototypes here – many of them monocles on plastic sticks – the desire is growing. The product has moved from standalone options to more integrated designs that include a microdisplay, health monitoring, and wireless capabilities.
The company also highlighted industrial and medical applications, including a Glaucoma Management lens that uses AI to replace a doctor’s regular exam with a simple smartphone selfie.
With the founders also promising to publicly wear a fully integrated lens by 2027, it continues to lead this amazing space—and it’s slowly starting to feel less like science fiction and more like an official product roadmap.
