There will be no MWC this year due to the coronavirus outbreak; it is the first time since 2006 that MWC is cancelled.
In the official statement by GSMA, MWC Barcelona 2020 is cancelled due to “the global concern regarding the coronavirus outbreak, travel concern and other circumstances.” The outbreak has affected 28 countries and territories at the time of writing with more than 1,300 death tolls — most of it from China.
Perhaps the cancellation of the tech trade show is not such a bad thing; after all, prevention is better than cure. Several companies had already made their decisions to pull out from MWC this year due to priorities their employees’ health and safety concerns. This includes LG, Sony, NVIDIA, vivo and a few more.
Despite the unfortunate turn of events, many companies have come up with alternatives to announce their products. Some will hold separate events while others will just announce it through online platforms.