Huawei Technologies will hold its Mobile World Congress 2020 conference online following news of the event being cancelled, Huawei Central reported on Monday.
The Chinese telecoms giant is set to hold a product launch press conference on 24 February in English, 14:00 CET (21:00 Beijing Time), and will launch its new smartphone series, including the Mate X folding phone, as well as wearables, internet of things (IoT) devices, tablets and company strategy, among others.
It is understood the company will provide updates on the P40 series smartphone expected to launch in March.
The Chinese tech firm said that it respected the GSMA decision to cancel the MWC 2020 in Barcelona, adding that it appreciated "all the effort" organisers and the Spanish government had put into the event.
A Huawei spokesperson said shortly after the cancellation: "Huawei has always and will continue to support the development of Mobile World Congress events in Barcelona. We will also continue communicating with our customers and partners through online and regional events to show Huawei's latest products and solutions.
— GSMA (@GSMA) February 12, 2020
In a statement last week, GSMA chief executive John Hoffman extended its sympathies to victims of the Coronavirus outbreak in China and globally.
He said in a statement: "With due regard to the safe and healthy environment in Barcelona and the host country today, the GSMA has cancelled MWC Barcelona 2020 because the global concern regarding the coronavirus outbreak, travel concern and other circumstances, make it impossible for the GSMA to hold the event.
The news comes after further cancellations of major events were announced last week, where Japanese officials said they would cancel public celebrations for Emperor Naruhito's birthday to control the coronavirus outbreak.
Huawei has also been embroiled in a trade war with the United States after the latter has repeatedly accused the Chinese firm of using backdoor technology to spy for the Chinese government, which both Beijing and Huawei have sharply and routinely denied. Huawei and Chinese officials slammed Washington last week after a Wall Street Journal report accused the company of spying, despite a Washington Post article revealing that the US Central Intelligence Agency had commissioned a Swiss encryption firm to spy on over 120 nations for decades.
