Week 51 in review: Samsung Galaxy A8 and A8+ debut, some hot leaks too

It's a rare sight to see a high-profile smartphone announced in December, much less so this close to Christmas, so the Galaxy A8 and A8+'s debut this week was somewhat of a nice surprise. The upper mid-rangers bring the first dual selfie cameras on Samsung smartphones and borrow more Galaxy S features than any of their predecessors.

Speaking of the Galaxy S flagships, the S9 and S9+ got their designs exposed by a bunch of case makers, who got the schematics and made renders based on them. Apparently only the plus version will have dual camera on the back with the regular S9 sticking to a single sensor.

The Nokia 9 is another hot upcoming device that made a memorable trip to rumorland. The FCC listing for the flagship revealed the majority of its key specs, which combined with some leaked design renders gave us a pretty good idea of what to expect.

Check out our most popular stories from the past week to make sure you haven't missed anything important.

Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018) and A8+ (2018) go official with dual selfie cams, Infinity Display

This is Samsung's first dual selfie cam and it features live Focus.

Nokia 9's FCC certification reveals its key specs

An LG-made OLED screen and Snapdragon 835 are bound for the new flagship.

Case renders confirm only the Samsung Galaxy S9+ will have a dual camera

Olixar was right on the money for the Note8 design and this year it shows that the base S9 will stick with a single camera setup.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 not coming, Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus takes its place

Xiaomi is dropping the Note name from its affordable series smartphones.

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ front panels leak alongside rumored battery capacity

The smaller model will have a beefier battery than its predecessor.

Sony Xperia XZ2 alleged render shows the bezel-less design

The phone will no bezels on three sides of its screen, similarly to the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2.

Nokia 9 shows its bezel-starved face in leaked render

The image tells us that HMD Global is finally ready to get with the times.

Apple confirms it's intentionally slowing down iPhones with old batteries

The company said it decreased the performance in order to keep the battery life longer.

Samsung Galaxy S9+ benchmark scores look promising

Samsung’s next Galaxy flagship has been spotted on GeekBench with a Snapdragon 845.

Huawei unveils the Honor 9 Lite

The phone comes with four cameras and FullView display of FullHD+ resolution.

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ benchmarks confirm 18.5:9 screens

The next Galaxy flagship pair was spotted in a benchmark database.

The 5MP selfie cam on the Nokia 9 will actually be a dual camera

Combined with the two cameras on the back that makes for a total of four cameras.

Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+ and Note5 getting new updates

These are security updates that bring along Android fixes for the month of December.

Nokia launches a heartwarming holiday video

The ad reminds to switch off devices this Christmas and “give the gift of you”.

Alleged photo of Galaxy S9 backplate suggests a single camera setup

Based on a leaked photo, the S9 won’t get the same dual-camera as the Galaxy S9+.

First 5G spec has been finalized, expect to start seeing 5G in 2018

Standards for future 5G technology have been established for carriers, phone makers, and radio equipment.

Samsung confirms Galaxy A8 (2018) and A8+ (2018) release date

During a recent event in Vietnam, the South Korean company confirmed the devices will go on sale there January 6 onwards.

Upgraded AirPods for 2018

New Apple AirPods to launch in the second half of 2018

Nokia 5 survives scratch, burn, and bend test

It looks like HMD Global wants to keep the brand's fame for creating solid devices intact.

Huawei Enjoy 7S is finally official

The phone comes with Kirin 659 SoC and dual camera setup on the back.

Huawei agrees to pay Nokia for patents in multi-year license deal

It follows in the footsteps of Apple, Samsung, LG, and Xiaomi.

Chrome Browser will start blocking ads on February 15

No, not all ads, just from websites that have ads that don’t meet Google’s acceptable guidelines.

Samsung starts mass producing second-gen 10nm RAM

The new generation of 10nm class RAM is about 10% faster and 15% more efficient than the previous one.

Here are all the ways Android Oreo protects your phone and data

Google has detailed all the hard work it's done to make Oreo safer than Nougat.

Asus Zenfone Max Plus (M1) goes international, brings hefty price tag

The 4,130mAh battery is big, but not quite huge. The 18:9 screen and dual camera certainly add to the price, though.