Week 49 in review: Samsung Galaxy S8 rumors, Nougat update frenzy

Last week wasn't filled with all that many new device announcements. The Meizu M5 Note was a notable exception, along with an interesting wearable, courtesy of the same manufacturer. Apart from that, however, it seems the industry is mostly focusing on the bright future to come, which is frankly logical, since we are well into December now.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 appears to be on everybody's mind. As per the latest batch of rumors, next year's flagship should be a spectacular sight to behold, complete with a likely edge-to-edge, RGB-matrix AMOLED panel, with nothing else on the front, not even a home button. Stereo audio, powered by Harman is also a possibility, which should be a welcome addition for audio enthusiast. On the flip side, however, Samsung might go the way of Apple and ditch the 3.5mm audio jack.

Speaking of Cupertino, hints of next year's iPhones are starting to surface as well. Currently, opinions seem to gravitate towards the "7s" moniker for the devices, as opposed to something fancier to mark the 10 year anniversary. An A11 chipset and red color option are also being widely discussed.

Other notable mentions from the rumor mill include, the ZUK Edge, which should finally be nearing an official release, as well as a new 7,000 mAh phone from Gionee and a few concept devices from Huawei and Samsung.

Samsung Galaxy Note7 exploding battery likely caused by extreme internal margins

Samsung was too aggressive in its internal design margins, leaving no room for the phone's safe battery operation.

BlackBerry Mercury live images surface, QWERTY keyboard in tow

The last phone to be built in-house, the Mercury has been previously confirmed by company CEO.

Galaxy S8 to come with an RGB AMOLED and no Home key

The screen resolution will be the same - 1440p - but there will be a lot more subpixels on the matrix.

Samsung Galaxy S8 to come with stereo speakers, possibly Harman-powered

The next Samsung flagship may end up with a powerful dual-speaker setup and possible Harman branding.

Snapdragon 835 stops by GFXBench: octa-core CPU, powerful Adreno 540 GPU

The development board scores 41.5fps in Manhattan 3.1, beats the iPhone 7 Plus.

Another Samsung patent gives a clearer picture of the upcoming foldable phone

The handset has what appears to be a detachable camera module.

No 3.5mm headphone jack for Samsung Galaxy S8, report confirms

There'll be a USB Type-C port instead.

Mi Band beware - the Meizu Band is here

IP67 rating, OLED display, heart rate sensor - all for $33 in China.

Apple iPhone 7s coming in 2017 with A11 chipset, red color option

A new rumor comes to contradict everything we've heard so far regarding next year's Apple smartphones.

Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) now leaks in images

The device has already been spotted on various benchmarking websites, and has also received Bluetooth and FCC certifications.

Meizu M5 Note goes official with Flyme 6.0, 4,000mAh battery

Yet another 5.5" entry from Meizu. Unlike the smaller M5, the back on this one is metal, not polycarbonate.

Motorola Moto G4 receives price cut in India

The device is currently going for INR 2,000 (around $30) less than its usual price.

Black Pearl Samsung Galaxy S7 edge officially announced

The new color will be exclusive to 128GB models of the handset, and will be available starting December 9.

Lenovo to launch Moto M in India on December 13

Pricing and availability will be announced at launch.

Android 7.1-based CM14.1 nightlies now available for Nexus 5, Nextbit Robin, and more

It's worth mentioning that the Moto X Pure Edition nightly build isn't completely functional - there are reports of kernel panics as well as camera issues.

Motorola Droid Turbo finally gets Marshmallow update

Arriving as software version 24.81.5.en-US, the update brings Android version 6.0.1.

Huawei's Honor Magic concept phone allegedly stars in leaked image

This is pretty much going to be Huawei's response to Xiaomi's Mi Mix, and it's becoming official on December 16.

ZUK Edge now pictured in white/gold, to be priced at $390

What's not to like about a sub-$400 Snapdragon 821 phone?

Gionee outs first teaser for its 7,000mAh battery totting M2017 smartphone

The device is powered by an octa-core 1.96GHz processor, sports a 5.7-inch QHD display, and has 6GB/128GB memory configuration.

Android 7.1.1 Nougat factory images and OTA files are now available for Pixel and Nexus devices

This means that the over-the-air update's rollout is due to start soon too.

LG G6 rumored to keep headphone jack, integrate the battery, and use glass in hardware

New rumors say the LG G6 could get rid of the removable battery, but use a new design with glass and keep the headphone jack.

LG G6 may come with water-proofing and wireless charging

LG G6 may be losing the Friends modules, but it will gain water-tight body and wireless charging.

Apple says defect iPhone 6S units had their batteries exposed to "ambient air"

There's no information on the number of phones affected.