China's Huawei says it may become the top smartphone maker by the end of 2019

as mentioned in China's Huawei Technologies, which overtook Apple as the world's second-largest smartphone vendor in the June quarter, forecast global smartphone shipments exceeding 200 million this year, a recovery after a sharp slowdown last year. Huawei had shipped 153 million smartphones last year, up just 10 percent over 2016. The shipments forecast comes as a slowdown in the world's biggest smartphone market, China, has eased. The Chinese market is key for Huawei as it has come under fire from the United States, Australia and other nations over concerns it could facilitate Chinese government spying. The company plans to add 10,000 retail stores around the world to the existing 53,000 before the end of 2018, he said.

Amazon may have another smartphone in the works (update: no)

MobileAmazon may have another smartphone in the works (update: no)Hopefully it fares better than the first. In a speech at the Television Critics Association press tour (where Amazon has been very busy), studio head Jennifer Salke said she has the prototype of a future Amazon phone that would reportedly have a better interface for Prime Video. It's not farfetched to envision Amazon getting back into the smartphone business, though. Prime Video would be just one of the potential hooks -- a smartphone could be the key to putting Alexa in your pocket. Update: We've since learned that Salke was referring to the Prime Video app, not a phone.

Samsung Galaxy Note 9: Samsung Galaxy Note 9 picture gets leaked, smartphone may come with 3.5-mm headphone jack

as declared in SEOUL: Samsung 's website has leaked a picture of the upcoming Galaxy Note 9, which suggests the flagship smartphone will have 3.5-mm headphone jack , the media reported.The photo of the Galaxy Note 9 was first spotted by eminent phone leakster Evan Blass. "The image of the leaked upcoming device confirms the Galaxy Note 9 name - not that, it would be anything else - but gives us a clear look at its 3.5-mm headphone jack, rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, switched-up dual camera and upgraded S-Pen stylus," CNET reported late on Thursday.The marketing image of the device had the headline: "Say hello to super power".It invited users to pre-order and be "one of the first to experience it. "However, the South Korean tech giant left the page up for several hours before taking it down, thus, ensuring its latest "accident" was there just long enough for everyone to see, according to the Forbes.The smartphone major showcased teaser videos for the upcoming device last week -- highlighting improved performances in terms of battery, storage capacity, and speed.Under the title "A lot can change in a day," the company advertised the showcase event slated for August 9 through three different video clips, each depicting everyday problems people face while using smartphones.Industry watchers expect the new Galaxy Note 9 to come with 4,000mAh battery and 512 GB data storage capacity, along with Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 and Exynos 9810 chipsets.

Yes, your smartphone may be spying on you – but not how you suspect

Yes, your smartphone may be spying on you – but not how you suspectDavid ChoffnesElizabeth Weise | USA TODAYSAN FRANCISCO – Think your smartphone is spying on you? Also, none of the apps turned on the phone's camera and shot video of whatever it was pointed at. "This was actually good news," Dave Choffnes, a professor of computer science at Northeastern and one of the researchers, told USA TODAY on Thursday. It was actively making recordings of everything the user did on the app and sending it to AppSee, an app analytics platform. One possible use of the Appsee program is to allow a company to collect a random number of screen videos.

collected by :John Smith