5G was the highlight of the first day of Mobile World Congress Shanghai (QCOM, NOK)

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The annual Mobile World Congress (MWC) Shanghai telecommunications industry trade event kicked off yesterday, and there were 5G applications abound.

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Companies throughout the tech space are preparing hardware and services that will take advantage of the networks that are already live around the world or set to launch in the coming months. Here are a few top stories out of the show:

Qualcomm and ZTE showed off 5G-powered cloud-based gaming on smartphones. The US-based chipmaker and the embattledChinese networking equipment manufacturer used live 5G networks to play games from Tencent’s Instant Play service on hardware from phone manufacturers including Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi. Using cloud-based services can offload processing and allow consumers to play more complex games on their phones than a mobile chipset can handle. This is possible thanks to the bandwidth and low latency of 5G networks. 5G-powered gaming will enable even more ways for consumers to use the subscription gaming services they pay for, and sets the stage for otherplatforms like Google’s Stadia and Microsoft’s xCloud to grow on mobile when they launch.

Vivo unveiled a range of 5G-enabled devices, including a connected AR headset meant to pair specifically with its newly announced 5G phones. The Vivo Glass headset will feature a pair of semitransparent screens that can display images overlaid on the real world to provide information and context about what the wearer sees. The company plans to develop a set of applications for the headset, including mobile productivity tools, gaming, media consumption, and more. Providing connectivity for the headset via a phone is an unfortunate reality at this stage that renders the headset viable yet less useful than a standalone headset, but given the battery requirements to connect a headset to 5G networks directly, it’s likely impossible to do so on a commercial device today.
Nokia and China Mobile will deploy the former’s massive MIMO 5G solution. This solution will allow China Mobile to offer customers the bandwidth and low latency of 5G networks when they need it, while allocating requests that don’t require it to 4G networks and balancing the capabilities of its network resources against user demands. The goal of deploying such a solution is to get 5G services up and running faster. And for Nokia, a first deployment with China Mobile can provide a results-based foundation for future 5G projects around the world and drive the widespread availability of such networks in the coming years.

Industry gatherings like MWC — both the flagship Barcelona conference as well as satellite events — are an important venue for companies in telecommunications to showcase their newest hardware and solutions and highlight partnerships with key customers.

While in years past, these sorts of shows were mostly about keeping abreast of the latest developments, they’ve also become a critical place to meet with prospective enterprise customers and demonstrate the value of a solution based on real results.

Business Insider Intelligence’s Ayoub Aouad spoke with Kathrin Buvac, president of Nokia Enterprise and Chief Strategy Officer, about how the audience at these events, and thus the Finnish networking company’s approach to them, has changed in recent years.

"What I’m observing is that in only the past couple of years, whether it’s at MWC in Barcelona, which is the largest telecom show every year, or whether it’s CES in Las Vegas in the second week of January, we’re present at all these events meeting customers. But it was only until the last couple of years that…the participation rates of types of companies changed for these shows. Somebody from the organizing team who runs the show at Barcelona told me that this year 60% of visitors who got badges were enterprise customers. Five years ago, that number would have been probably 80% or 90% carriers."

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