Officials from top U.S. intelligence agencies commented on potential cybersecurity threats from Chinese companies including Huawei and ZTE.

Battery advancements haven't kept in step with performance improvements, but the charging tech for topping those cells up has come a long way. Now, most phones come with some flavor of quick-charging technology that promises to fill our capacious flagships in arbitrarily small periods of time.

LG will introduce a redesigned flagship phone in June, codenamed Judy, reports Venture Beat. LG has previously said it would depart from its predictable smartphone launch cycle, with this June rumor marking a notable change. LG traditionally launches its G-series phones in the first half of the year, followed by its V-series in the second half.

The Redmi Note 5 Pro has an 18:9 screen, an all-new dual camera at the back with portrait mode, a 20MP selfie camera with LED flash, and is the first phone in the world to be powered by the Snapdragon 636. This is the phone to beat in 2018.

There's something about a new phone. It gleams, free of fingerprints, as you gingerly take it from its box. The accessories, perfectly wrapped, have infinite potential. You turn it on and it boots to a clean home screen, ready for you to make it — anything. That's the beauty of the modern smartphone it; it does so much and it can do whatever you want it to do.

Samsung officially announced the Galaxy S9 today, and yes, as indicated by previously leaked images, there is a headphone jack. While many companies have opted out of including a headphone jack — the iPhone X, Pixel 2, and Huawei Mate 10 Pro — some, like Samsung, have continued to include the headphone jack and be... just fine.

Ahead of today’s Zenfone 5 launch at Mobile World Congress 2018, Asus hosted a media briefing to tell us about its new phone and directly address the very familiar notch at the top of the device. “Some people will say it’s copying Apple,” said Marcel Campos, Asus’ global head of marketing, “but we cannot get away from what users want. You have to follow the trends.” So that’s settled: the iPhone-esque notch is now trendy and we’re all going to have to marvel at it across a diversity of Android devices, including the new Asus Zenfone.

While Apple rarely shows up—publicly at least—to trade shows like Mobile World Congress (MWC), its presence is still felt. Apple’s latest smartphone, the $1,000 iPhone X, has been on sale since November, and it seems that more than a few mobile manufacturers have been busy copying one of the most-derided aspects of the phone’s design: the notch that houses its front-facing cameras.

You've probably heard of Apple's Taptic Engine before. It's the vibration motor that first appeared on the iPhone 6S, eventually running out the headphone jack in the iPhone 7 and consequent models. It's also what allowed Apple to replicate the clicking button of the old days on newer iPhones with nothing more than a firm buzz under a pressure-sensitive portion of the glass. Subtle as it may be, the Taptic Engine has made a huge difference in the overall experience of using an iPhone.

In a way, Essential is something of a pioneer. Before the iPhone X helped the world reluctantly embrace the screen notch, the company proudly displayed one atop its first flagship. Since then, of course, it’s become a feature, not a bug, with a long list of companies rushing to embrace it on their latest flagship.

Zack from JerryRigEverything has become famous for his (somewhat extreme) durability tests, and now he's finally gotten his hands on a new Galaxy S9 to put through its paces. Starting off with the scratch test, the S9's screen only begins scratching with a level 6 pick, and displays deeper groves at level 7. This is absolutely on par with essentially every other smartphone around (with the exception of sapphire screens that only begin to scratch at a level 8), and means the Galaxy S9's display should hold up fine against razor blades, coins, and keys.

Samsung’s 2018 flagship phone, the Galaxy S9, is the first in the world with an f/1.5 lens aperture. But set aside all the hype about it being part of a dual-aperture system. What I really wanted to know about this change is how it might improve Samsung’s low-light imaging. Having the widest aperture means being able to soak up the most light, so, in theory at least, the Galaxy S9 should be the best cameraphone for situations where light is at a premium.

If you live in North America and you'd like to buy a OnePlus 5T, well, sorry — you're out of luck. Not just temporarily, either — the startup confirmed to Engadget that it has sold every OnePlus 5T it made for the North American market, and well ahead of schedule to boot. Kyle Kiang, OnePlus's head of global marketing and general manager of North America, said the stock outage was due stronger-than-expected demand, and as a result, people on this continent will have to sit tight and wait for the company's next flagship phone to arrive.

The Galaxy S9 and S9+ are some of the best phones money can buy right now — and if you like to keep up with the latest tech, you might already have one. One of the reasons the S9 is so popular is because of its incredible build quality and design. Samsung spared no expense, crafting the phone out of beautiful curved glass and metal.

You'd think that after launching the Huawei P20 Pro, a high-end phone with muscular specs that challenge the Galaxy S9, the world's third-largest phone maker would bask in the glow and wait for preorder sales to rush in. But for the China-based Huawei, those preorders from the all-important US market will never arrive: The phone won't be sold here by any major retailer or wireless carrier. Still, the CEO of Huawei's consumer business group, Richard Yu, said his company isn't pulling out of the US.

Roughly half of Huawei’s P20 Pro launch event this week was dedicated to the new device’s camera capabilities, reflecting the great deal of time and attention the company has dedicated to mobile photography. And the results, now that I’ve had a few days to try out the P20 Pro, aren’t far off from the lofty hype. Huawei has crafted a formidable contender for the crown of best smartphone camera. I’m not yet convinced that it deserves that accolade...

It was all foreshadowed last year by the Essential Phone, and kicked into the public consciousness with the iPhone X. The notches are here to stay, and 2018 will be the year where notched displays are the norm rather the exception. ASUS cringingly revealed its ZenFone 5 back at MWC. The new Huawei P20 and P20 Pro have notches on two different display aspect ratios. OnePlus chose to straight-up pre-announce that the OnePlus 6 will have a notch before it unveiled the phone. It's all but confirmed that LG's 2018 flagship will have the same.

LG Display is going to supply OLED displays to Huawei, which is world’s third biggest Smartphone manufacturer, for the first time. LG Display is starting to gather global customers for its OLED business. According to industries, Huawei decided to use LG Display’s flexible OLED for ‘Mate RS’, which was recently introduced. Mate RS is Huawei’s premium Smartphone and it costs more than $1,885 (2 million KRW). It is equipped with 6-inch flexible OLED display, which bends the sides of a screen, that provides 2,880x1,440 resolution.

OnePlus CEO Pete Lau has taken to the company’s forums to offer fans some reassurance about the upcoming OnePlus 6 and its controversial notched display. In response to a loud and passionate negative reaction, Lau says that OnePlus will now offer the option to black out the sides of the screen around the notch and thereby hide it, much as Huawei has done with the P20. I’ve been using the latter phone since its announcement in Paris last week, and I’ve never felt the need to hide its notch, but it’s good to have the option for people suffering from notch allergies.

I have been in the Android camp since I bought a Motorola Razr clamshell around 2004. I stuck with Android faithfully in the 14 years that followed, shuttling through the HTC Desire, the Samsung Galaxy S3, a Moto G and, most recently, a Huawei P9. But it's over. I switched over to the iPhone X in January, because if you're going to give up a decade-long relationship you may as well do it in $1,000 (£1,000) style. Here's how I've found it so far...