Xiaomi won't be at MWC this year

In a surprise move, Xiaomi said that they would not be present at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year. Many speculated that the event would be an opportune moment for the company to launch the Mi 6 flagship, as leaked specs and benchmarks have already found their way online.

According to Xiaomi, the main factor behind the decision seems to be that they don’t have anything new to debut at the event. There are a number of reasons why Xiaomi may have decided to push back the Mi 6 launch that are unrelated to Hugo Barra’s sudden exit from the company.

Xiaomi may want to ensure that the Mi 6 gets Qualcomm’s cutting-edge Snapdragon 835 chip rather than settling for a weaker Snapdragon 821. Samsung’s deal with Qualcomm has made it so the Galaxy S8 will be the first phone to hit the market with the Snapdragon 835, meaning that other smartphone makers will have to wait their turn if they want to include the latest hardware in their flagship devices.

Another contributing factor is that Xiaomi may want to space out the release of its flagship devices in response to slumping demand for Xiaomi's products last year. Its Mi 5s Plus and Mi Note 2, for example, are still fairly new.

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