Mobile World Congress: What to Expect from the Year’s Biggest Mobile Tech Show

David Ramos/Getty

Starting on Sunday, 1,700 tech companies will descend upon Barcelona, Spain, for the mobile industry’s biggest week of the year. Samsung, HTC, LG, Nokia and Sony will all be at this year’s Mobile World Congress, as will Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and IBM CEO Virginia Rometty.

And we’ll be there, too, of course, covering the whole thing for you.

Almost anyone who’s anyone in the mobile industry (who’s not Apple) will be on hand at Mobile World Congress to announce some of 2014’s biggest smartphones and tablets. It’s gonna be one long week, and it can be a lot to take in all at once. So, before we jumped on a long flight to Catalonia, we put together a list of what we’re most looking forward to seeing (aside from the inside of a few Spanish restaurants).

Let’s start with what we know for sure:

LG: For the moment, it seems as though LG has already revealed its biggest secret. Earlier this week, it unveiled the G2 Pro, an enormous smartphone that tests the limits of tasteful phablet size with a 5.9-inch display. (A “phablet” is a cross between a smartphone and a tablet and is usually used to describe a smartphone with a larger-than-usual screen.)

The 5.9-inch display is larger than both the G2 Pro’s predecessor and Samsung’s latest Galaxy Note 3, which measures 5.7 inches. The G2 Pro can shoot high-resolution 4K video and has a cool knock-to-unlock feature that lets you start up your smartphone by tapping a pattern on its display.

LG also announced a smaller version of that phone, the G2 Mini, earlier in the week. It also recently released a smartphone with a curved screen, which we reviewed here.

Motorola: Motorola, which was just sold from Google to the Chinese company Lenovo, will be holding a press event at MWC. But the official word from Motorola is that it will revolve around an “update on business.” Don’t expect a new Motorola smartphone at this year’s event.

Nokia: A few weeks ago, Nokia showed off the Lumia Icon, a lovely 5-inch handset with a lot of video-making firepower built in. The company has a press conference Monday morning, which means it may have a new smartphone to show off.

Nokia was recently acquired by Microsoft, and Nokia’s smartphones run Windows Phone. There are some rumors, however, that Nokia will unveil a smartphone running the latest version of Android. That would be quite the shocker from a company under the Microsoft umbrella, however.

*

What else do we expect? Unlike LG, most companies are waiting until Mobile World Congress itself to reveal their new smartphones. After all, throwing a press conference for an already-announced event is a bit like planning your own surprise party.

HTC: The phone that some are referring to as the HTC One M8 — a follow-up to last year’s well-reviewed HTC One smartphone — has reportedly been pushed back to March. HTC, for its part, has scheduled an event for March 25, where it is expected to unveil the M8. Rumored specs for the device include a 5-inch display and an HD — or even 2K — display. A less impressive, less expensive HTC phone called the Desire 8 has also been rumored for both an MWC and March release. According to Bloomberg News, HTC also plans to unveil three wearable devices — two smartwatches and a music-playing bracelet — at some point in the future, though we probably won’t get to view them at MWC.

Huawei: It’s not exactly a household name here in the States, but many expect the Chinese manufacturer to make a push to attract American smartphone shoppers soon. Rumors have it, however, that Huawei will devote its time at MWC to the release of its first smartwatch.

Lenovo: Lenovo recently purchased Motorola from Google, marking an expanded interest in the smartphone space. This MWC looks to be more tablet-focused for the world’s top laptop maker, however. Rumors — and FCC listings — point to the release of two new Lenovo tablets running Android.

Samsung: The Galaxy S5 is shaping up to be one of MWC’s safest bets. The company’s flagship smartphone is due for a refresh. The Galaxy S4 was unveiled (or “unpacked,” as the company prefers to put it) this time last year. There’s been some suggestion that the company will opt to simply throw its own launch event for the product as it did last year (and as has been the trend of late among tech companies), but the not-so-subtle inclusion of the number 5 in the event invite suggests otherwise. You can read more about what we expect from the Galaxy S5 here.

The Galaxy Note Neo, a less expensive version of Samsung’s Galaxy Note phablet, should also get some time at the show. The budget entrant in Samsung’s phablet line measures 5.5 inches, a bit smaller than the 5.7-inch display on the Galaxy Note 3. Also, don’t be too surprised if Samsung shows off the successor to last year’s Galaxy Gear smartwatch, giving the wearable a second shot ahead of Apple’s long-rumored entrance into the space.

Sony: Sony was one of the few companies with a major smartphone announcement at CES last month in the form of the Xperia mini. From the sound of it, however, the company is planning another big phone launch next week in Spain. Details beyond that, however, are scarce.

You can follow Yahoo Tech on Facebook for all the latest.