Forget the robots and smartphones—these are the real winners from the Barcelona show
After several days of packed halls at MWC 2026—where the Wareable team dodged everything from back-flipping robots to King Felipe VI—the Barcelona show is officially in the books.
There were undeniably fewer hardware launches in wearables than in previous years, with much of the focus this time fixed on 6G and AI infrastructure. Yet, the telco-first nature of the conference didn’t stop a few exciting wearable tech announcements from breaking through.
While most brands are clearly waiting for the agentic AI to truly evolve, the arrival of a new generation of silicon from Qualcomm suggests 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
(Image credit: Wareable)
While you can’t wear a chipset, the Snapdragon Wear Elite was arguably the most important announcement of the show.
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Qualcomm has effectively hit the reset button on wearable architecture, moving to a 3nm process and introducing a dedicated NPU (Neural Processing Unit) to the wrist.
It’s a foundational shift for a platform that has often been very smartwatch-led. Now, by enabling billion-parameter AI models to run on-device, this chip is designed to power what Qualcomm is calling the ‘Ecosystem of You’—taking AI off your phone and putting it 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 smart in every major 2027 flagship.
It was the one piece of news at the Fira that felt unprecedented and unexpected—and a Qualcomm rep on the show floor told Wareable that it’s likely the beginning of a more consistent wave of updates for the line of chips, given the expected increase in demand for AI hardware updates.
Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro
(Image credit: Wareable)
We actually got our hands on these just before the show—at the official Samsung Galaxy Unpacked unveiling a week prior—but their heavy presence alongside the latest flagship phone at MWC confirmed Samsung’s AI direction here.
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The premium-feeling ‘blade’ design is a departure from the old, focusing on a more secure fit and a brushed-metal finish. And the smarts are an extension of what arrived in the last generation.
Gemini (or Bixby) is still on hand to power the AI experience, while native Head Gestures—nodding to accept calls or shaking your head to dismiss a notification—headline. Combined with the 22-language real-time Interpreter mode, the Buds 4 Pro arrive as a very considered pair of in-ears. They’re also a very different take on the potential of the ear to, say, the AirPods Pro 3.
Huawei Watch GT Runner 2
(Image credit: Wareable)
After a four-year hiatus, Huawei has returned to the race with the GT Runner 2. After officially unveiling the watch last week in Madrid, it helpfully journeyed over to the Fira de Barcelona.
On paper, it’s a powerhouse: a lightweight titanium alloy chassis, a staggering 3,000-nit display, and a 3D ‘floating’ antenna designed to fix the GPS woes of its predecessor. It also introduces Marathon Mode, developed with elite feedback, to provide real-time pacing and refueling guidance.
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However, after already putting the new running watch through our tests over the last few weeks, the real-world picture is a little more complicated. At £349, it’s a premium, comfortable watch with a week-plus battery, but it lacks the bulletproof reliability needed to truly unseat Garmin or Coros for serious marathoners.
Xiaomi Watch 5
(Credit: Xiaomi)
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-needed, slightly cheaper alternative to the Google-Samsung duopoly. And if you’re wondering why the brand has skipped from Watch 2 to Watch 5, we can only suspect it’s to remain aligned with the ‘S’ generations of non-Wear OS watches.
The hardware highlight is the 930mAh silicon-carbon battery, which Xiaomi claims can stretch to 18 days in power-saver mode. There are also EMG gesture controls, which use electrical signals in your wrist to let you snap your fingers to trigger Gemini.
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We weren’t able to take this one for a full trial yet—confusingly and frustratingly, the brand didn’t actually have working models at the show ready to test. However, it arrives as a very solid-looking alternative to the Galaxy Watch and Pixel Watch.
Android XR prototype smart glasses
(Image credit: Wareable)
In the outside space between Halls 2 and 3, there were several Android demos. It felt very much like trying out those long-gone Windows Mixed Reality headsets.
As we await Google’s debut Android XR smart glasses, the prototype on offer here gave a glimpse of what to expect. What Google showed off was very classic reference design fodder—and probably most similar to the transparent-lensed wayfarer style of Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses. Essentially, a much smaller version than what the Android mascot above is wearing.
We expect the full retail version of Google’s specs later this year, with partnerships 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.
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RayNeo Air 4 Pro
(Image credit: Wareable)
After releasing the standard Air 4 in China late last year, RayNeo’s stand was a constant hive of activity thanks to the just-released Air 4 Pro.
At least in how we define a true wearable, these glasses are fairly borderline; as before, they aren’t trying to be ‘proper’ AR. Instead, they’re essentially a wearable 200-inch display for your pocket. Yet, with so few wearables at the show to get excited about, we’re including it here.
The Batman Edition—which we didn’t actually see on the floor, but is pictured above—added a bit of much-needed MWC flair, and the tech remained very solid in our quick Nintendo Switch 2 play-through. It’s low-latency, delivers crisp visuals, and weighs just 76g. They are among the most convincing screen-on-your-face solutions we’ve tried yet.
TimeKettle W4 AI Interpreter Buds
(Image credit: Wareable)
After debuting at IFA and CES in recent months, Timekettle arrived in Barcelona to showcase its buds at the conference for the first time. There was nothing strictly new on the stand here, but it did give us another chance to see products like the AI Interpreter Buds in action.
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Most translator buds fail in noisy crowds because they can’t pick up anything from the user amid the ambient din. The W4 range solves this by using what TimeKettle calls ‘AI Bone-Conduction Pickup’ to capture vibrations directly from the vocal cords.
Paired with the new Babel OS 2.0 and an ‘SOTA Engine Selector’ that automatically picks the best translation engine for a specific language pair, the W4 still feels like the most professional-grade version of smart, real-time translation in a wearables industry that’s beginning to really implement the feature.
Xgimi MemoMind smart glasses
(Image credit: Wareable)
Xgimi was at the show to continue the launch of its new sub-brand, MemoMind, alongside its wide range of projectors. As we saw at the initial unveiling at CES in January, the company was showing off the Memo One and Memo Air Display.
The flagship Memo One packs dual‑eye displays, built-in speakers, and a full suite of AI features, including translation, summarisation, reminders, and contextual guidance. The Memo Air Display, meanwhile, strips things back with a lighter monocular design, weighing just 28.9g, aimed at those who want intelligence without visual overload.
In our hands-on time, the neon-green UI was sharp and readable—very similar to Even Realities G1—though the arms and general fit do feel a bit less polished than those in Meta’s smart glasses range. Still, it’s a solid start from a brand that knows projection, even if the frames aren’t quite ready for prime time just yet.
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Moto Buds 2 Plus
(Credit: Motorola)
Motorola’s latest audio flagship, the Moto Buds 2 Plus, is a clear attempt to bring premium tuning to the sub-$200 market. Featuring ‘Sound by Bose’, these buds prioritize a high signal-to-noise ratio and spatial audio.
As far as we’re concerned, the standout feature is CrystalTalk AI, which aggressively filters background noise to isolate the speaker’s voice during calls.
While they don’t quite have the aesthetic ‘wow’ factor of the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, the inclusion of AI live translation and automatic wear detection at this price point makes them a strong option for the Android crowd to consider.
Xpanceo smart contact lens
(Credit: Xpanceo)
Dubai-based Xpanceo returned to MWC with a digital demonstration of its next-gen contact lens tech. It was one of our highlights of the show last year, so we were encouraged to see it back at the Fira again to talk up the progress it’s made.
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While we’re still looking at prototypes here—many of them monocles on plastic sticks—the ambition is scaling up. The brand has moved from standalone options to a more integrated design that combines a microdisplay, health monitoring, and wireless power.
The company also highlighted industrial and medical applications, including a Glaucoma Management lens that uses AI to replace routine doctor tests with a simple smartphone selfie.
With founders also promising to publicly wear the fully integrated lens in 2027, it continues to lead this incredibly niche space—and it’s ever so slowly beginning to feel less like science fiction and more like a legitimate product roadmap.
