00:02Stand up and pay attention.
00:04Robots and AI are here to stay. That's the vibe at MWC in Barcelona.
00:09It doesn't stand for moonwalking convention, though you can see that here.
00:13It's the Mobile World Congress, the premiere show for wireless and mobile tech.
00:18More than 100,000 visitors and close to 3,000 companies have packed the show floor,
00:23where AI has been put in just about everything.
00:25And the theme of the show this year is the IQ era, which really reflects that combination of technology and
00:32human intelligence,
00:34the way things are coming together.
00:35Despite the never-ending robot demos, this show has always been about phones.
00:40South Korea's Samsung is showcasing its Galaxy S26 Ultra, which has a built-in privacy screen
00:46that narrows the viewing angle so no one beside you can see your display.
00:50But AI is coming even to so-called feature phones or dumb phones, which intentionally offer fewer features than smartphones.
00:58Maker HMD says voice commands can still be helpful for users.
01:02Ask the phone to do something for you, such as turn on alarm clock, maybe you want to call a
01:08person,
01:09so you don't have to go into multiple menus, and that will be super simple to do.
01:14On the other end of the spectrum, phone maker Honor is showing off a prototype robot phone,
01:19with a tiny AI-powered camera arm that can track your face during recordings or do little dances.
01:26But is the world ready for robot phones?
01:28Honor's new robot phone is a big step forward in terms of industrial design, but it's a big risk as
01:33well.
01:33Do people really want something like this?
01:35Taking that to the mobile phone does allow Honor to do something slightly different, but it's going to be expensive,
01:41and with a mechanical design, there's always a certain amount of risk.
01:45Behind the flashy new tech, the industry is facing a crisis.
01:49A global shortage of memory chips, driven by massive demand for AI data centers,
01:54is squeezing the supply chain for devices like phones and laptops.
01:57Prices have skyrocketed, and analysts say that's likely to continue.
02:01Which is quite ironic. AI, which is the future of devices,
02:05is now sort of eating the device because it does not allow to have enough memory
02:11for manufacturers to launch their own products.
02:16And prices will increase dramatically in the second half of this year.
02:21This year's MWC makes one thing clear.
02:24The race to put AI into everything is accelerating.
02:27The question now is whether the supply chain can keep up.
02:31Yuan Duan and Chris Gorin for Taiwan Plus.
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