Your flat Galaxy S9 is nearly here - or is almost certainly about to be. This is the Samsung Galaxy S9 Active, and it was pretty much inevitable. Samsung hasn't yet officially unveiled this device officially, but we've got enough details gathered up in our sack-of-tidbits that we're ready to roll on a rundown.
Apple and Samsung are not counted amongst the top 5 brands in the smartphone market in China in the first quarter of 2018. This might come as a shock to Samsung Galaxy smartphone and iPhone users in the United States, where Samsung and Apple all but dominate the world of mobile phones. In China, two major moves happened in the last several months. One of them was Apple's move from 4th place in overall sales in mobile phones to 5th - the other was a major shipment fall for the market as a whole.
One of the disappointments of Samsung's latest flagships is that their batteries have barely changed over the years. The Galaxy S9, for instance, sports the same 3,000 mAh pack as the Galaxy S7 from 2016. While improvements in processors and battery efficiency promise longer battery lives, the fact remains that you'll barely get through a day without topping up. But why bother getting tangled with cables or fighting over wall sockets when you can prolong your Galaxy S9's or S9+'s use with mophie's latest juice packs, now with wireless charging support.
The Avengers have assembled though the jury is still out on whether it's a fitting climax to ten years of MCU movies or, as someone in the film said, the most glorious end in history. Of course, that's not going to stop anyone and everyone from trying to milk the film for what it's worth. One of those is OnePlus who has just released a teaser for its upcoming Limited Edition OnePlus 6 x Marvel Avengers, leaving little left to the imagination about what the phone will look like.
Besides notches, there are two dominant trends in smartphones these days: cameras and AI. And in some high-end smartphones, those two come together. Continuiny its marketing slogan of "same specs for half the price", Xiaomi launched the Mi 6X, a mid-range smartphone with a very tempting price tag. And, as you might expect, Xiaomi is positioning it to be the AI-empowered smartphone that anyone will be able to afford. Presuming you can actually buy one.
The next Moto Z [PLAY] smartphone appeared on the web on April 25th as a single 2-sided render. This image showed the front and the back of this Moto Z3 PLAY device, the third-generation smartphone in a line of plug-and-play modular smartphone devices. This device will likely be revealed officially by Motorola and/or Lenovo very, very soon.
Gaming smartphones are back in fashion. That is, if you ask at least three smartphone makers. Razer's interests are not surprising but Xiaomi and nubia, a ZTE sub-brand, are definitely unexpected players. But what is exactly a "gaming phone"? Or rather, what makes a smartphone a gaming phone? We take a look at the three contenders in that niche space, Razer Phone, the Xiaomi Black Shark, and the nubia Red Magic, to see what makes each of them worthy of that title.
![OnePlus 6 launch date confirmed [UPDATE]](https://c.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Screen-Shot-2018-04-23-at-2.21.06-PM-1-980x620.png)
Samsung and Huawei have had their say and, in just a few days, so will LG. But for many smartphone users around the world, these companies sometimes ask to much from consumers' pockets. They're still waiting for that phone that will woo their hearts and their wallets without settling for compromises. Now OnePlus is telling them they won't have to wait that long anymore, not even a month. Yes, the OnePlus 6 is coming in a little over three weeks to bring the company's promise of the speed you need.
Our smartphones are mostly made up of screens, at least on the front. That's especially true with today's trend of nearly bezel-less displays. So it's only natural that smartphone makers put a great deal of effort into making and promoting their panels. Take for example the upcoming LG G7 ThinQ and its Super Bright Display, promised to be brighter, denser, but also less power-hungry than its predecessor. And, yes, it's an LCD screen.
On April 1, T-Mobile started rolling out the Android 8.0 Oreo update to its Galaxy Note 8 customers. However, the carrier silently stopped that rollout, according to a support page on the company's website. Based on that page, T-Mobile put the update "temporarily on hold" just two days after it launched. Anyone who didn't get the update by April 3 will continue waiting.
The Galaxy A series has traditionally followed the premium Galaxy S line in terms of design. This year, it seems that Samsung is mixing things up a bit, a least with the Galaxy S6 and S6+ 2018 models. In terms of looks, the Galaxy A6+ seems to take more after the entry-level Galaxy J phones. But, as they say, looks can be deceiving and the Galaxy A6+ (2018) definitely has a lot to remind you of this year's Samsung champ.
At the height of the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal, Apple CEO Tim Cook made it clear that the company would have never been put in that situation because of it manually curated its apps. That remark, however, also applied to other app markets, particularly Android. Apple has lost not time to use that as the theme of one of its latest ads designed to convince comsumers to switch to an iPhone for peace of mind and clean faces.