On a Tuesday in the middle of Mobile World Congress 2026, three industry experts gathered for a panel to chat about smart glasses and extended reality tech. But a fourth member of the panel, who was based in Dubai, never made it to the conference. Two days before, the US and Israel launched airborne attacks on Iran, and flights had been grounded throughout the Middle East.
Even thousands of miles away in Barcelona, on the western edge of the Mediterranean Sea, MWC was affected by the conflict. While events and meetings at the world's largest mobile tech conference proceeded as planned, albeit under the anxious awareness of larger geopolitical events, there were notable absences.
Some booths stood empty, and some meetings scheduled between absent attendees weren't held. Exhibitors walked the halls and saw a diminished presence from Middle Eastern companies.
While the conflict was just beginning as MWC took place, it had already affected attendees and changed the experience. While distant from the fighting in the Middle East, the war's impact was just as seriously felt in the middle of a conference about bringing humans together.
Xpanceo's booth in Hall 6 at MWC 2026. The prototypes that were supposed to be flown in from Dubai didn't arrive. David Lumb/CNET
The financial, emotional and mental cost of war on a tech conference
The fourth panelist on Tuesday's panel was supposed to be Roman Axelrod, cofounder of Xpanceo, who would have likely discussed the smart contact lenses the company intended to show off in prototype form at MWC. But neither Axelrod nor the samples ever left Dubai, where the company is based. Conference attendees who walked by Xpanceo's booth were greeted by employees who had flown in from elsewhere and apologized that they had only hastily made video demonstrations of the technology samples that were supposed to be on display.
I had already planned to chat with Valentyn S. Volkov, co-founder and CTO of Xpanceo, who likewise didn't make it to MWC. While the company was intentionally headquartered in Dubai as a reliable and predictable jurisdiction for business (as well as centrally located, with many business destinations within a 7-hour flight), the country falls within the airspace of the current conflict. As a result, businesses are losing money, especially funds spent on opportunities at MWC.
"We already kind of lost, I would say, a significant amount of resources -- physical, mental, scientific resources -- simply because we could not get everyone to Barcelona. We could not get our prototypes to Barcelona as planned," Volkov told me.
Fortunately, Volkov was in good spirits when I chatted with him over Zoom via a laptop in Xpanceo's booth. He was safe, noting that local authorities in Dubai were providing "logistic safeness."
... continue reading