Last week we heard about ZTE and LG cancelling their upcoming Mobile World Congress (MWC) press conferences in concern over the novel Coronavirus outbreak, considering the global emergency declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the rising situation of the epidemic. Today we see a similar move from Sony and TCL as well. Sony have issued a new statement, announcing that, they have "taken the difficult decision to withdraw from exhibiting and participating at MWC 2020 in Barcelona, Spain." According to the manufacturer, they are closely monitoring the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak across the world and have decided to cancel their plans on attending the exhibition, giving "the utmost importance on the safety and well-being of our customers, partners, media and employees." Evidently, Sony will still go ahead with their launch event as a livestream at 8:30 AM (local time) as planned on February 24, via their official Xperia YouTube channel.
As for the partially state-owned Chinese multinational electronics company, TCL Corporation, they have also confirmed the cancellation and withdrawal from exhibiting in their scheduled MWC 2020 global press event, which was planned for February 22, due to the concerns over the widespread of the virus. The manufacturer shared the latest update on their official Twitter handle, however letting us know that, the decision from the phone maker will not impact their MWC 2020 plans and will still debut their latest mobile devices and showcase them at their booth in Hall 3, Stand 3D11 between the dates of February 24 and February 27. Other companies who have joined the list are Amazon, Ericsson, and NVIDIA, who also dropped their MWC activities, keeping the present situation in mind.
Source: phoneArena.com, TCL Mobile (Twitter)Update on TCL’s presence at #MWC20. We hope to see you at our booth in Hall 3, Stand 3D11! pic.twitter.com/EYptRI6BlG— TCL Mobile (@TCLMobileGlobal) February 10, 2020
