"The health and safety of our employees, partners and customers is our number one priority, so we have made the decision to withdraw from exhibiting in-person at this year's Mobile World Congress," Samsung said in an emailed statement.

The 2020 edition of the world's largest mobile telephone industry event, usually held each year in Barcelona in February, was cancelled because of the pandemic and postponed to late June 2021.

Other companies including Ericsson have also said they would attend the congress remotely.

(Reporting by Inti Landauro, Supantha Mukherjee and Clara-Laeila LaudetteEditing by Ingrid Mealander)