Qualcomm took the wraps off of its new 5G breakthrough, reaching a huge 1Gbps but they weren't done - the company has just unveiled its new Snapdragon 636 processor, too. The new Snapdragon 636 has support for extra-tall FHD+ resolution screens (2160x1080), too.

Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 636 processor is the successor to the mid-range Snapdragon 630, which is ready for Assertive Display - for increased visibility in not-so-great lighting. Adreno 509 graphics are just 10% faster than the previous-gen chip, while the Kryo 260 CPU is 40% faster.

Inside, we have up to 600Mbps LTE support, while we have Qualcomm's impressive Spectra 160 image signal processor that will provide great photo-taking abilities. Qualcomm will be shipping its new Snapdragon 636 processors out to phone makers in November.

Qualcomm is at the absolute bleeding edge of connectivity technology, with the world's first tests of 5G connections on a mobile device now completed.

The company tested the 5G internet connection on their own X50 5G modem, using the 28GHz millimeter wave frequency band. Qualcomm adds that they reached over 1Gbps with the test, but 5G is capable of much higher speeds of 5Gbps once the 5G deployments are complete.

Qualcomm also unveiled the world's first 5G smartphone reference design, which the company will use to test 5G modems, radios, and networks with smartphone makers over the next 1-2 years, as we get closer to companies releasing 5G-capable smartphones. 5G smartphones are expected in the first half of 2019, while Qualcomm's new 5G reference smartphone rocks an edge-to-edge display, and is just 9mm thick.

Qualcomm is heating up its battle against Apple, with the chipmaker wanting to see the iPhone banned from sale in China.

According to sources close to the matter, Qualcomm has filed lawsuits with a Beijing intellectual property court, with the company claiming patent infringement while seeing injunctive relief. Qualcomm is fighting Apple over power management and touchscreen technology, something Apple calls Force Touch, in their current-gen iPhones.

Qualcomm says that there are even more examples of their technology being used on Apple devices, which Apple is making a mountain of cash from. Qualcomm spokesperson Christine Trimble, said that Apple hasn't paid its supplier to use that tech in its devices. Qualcomm said: "Apple employs technologies invented by Qualcomm without paying for them".

Apple changed everything with its Touch ID home button, a fingerprint sensor that doubled as a home button, but now that Apple has collected enough fingerprints, it's moving onto collecting your face ID.

The company announced their iPhone X, the first iPhone to receive Apple's new facial recognition technology, Face ID. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that Apple isn't likely to make a new iPhone with Touch ID in 2018. Kuo issued a note, saying that the biometric touch sensor in Apple's future iPhones is uncertain, saying that the decision to kill Touch ID has already been made by Apple.

Kuo said that 3D sensing is the "key selling point" on all iPhones for 2018 and "[Apple intends to] capitalize on its clear lead in 3D sensing design and production for smartphones", with Apple making a big point about that focus with the announcement of iPhone X. Apple made a very big point about the TrueDepth cameras and plethora of sensors inside of the iPhone X, and is now pushing all-in with Face ID, something Apple can capitalize on since they're one of the first with good facial recognition on a smartphone.

Samsung Electronics CEO and Vice Chairman, Kwon Oh-hyun, has just resigned from the company, where he will step down from his positions on the board, and as CEO of Samsung Display.

Kwon said in a letter to employees: "It is something I had been thinking long and hard about for quite some time. It has not been an easy decision, but I feel I can no longer put it off. As we are confronted with unprecedented crisis inside out, I believe that time has now come for the company start anew, with a new spirit and young leadership to better respond to challenges arising from the rapidly changing IT industry".

The letter to Kwon's employees continued: "There are no words to describe how proud I am that we built together one of the most valuable companies in the world. We have come a long way to create a company that truly changes how people live, work and communicate with each other. But now the company needs a new leader more than ever and it is time for me to move to the next chapter of my life".

Kwon joined the company in 1985, where he eventually led the semiconductor business before he sat in the CEO chair in 2012. Last year, Kwon was named Samsung Display CEO where they have been making large leaps over the competition to become one of the gigantic innovators in the display business.

The hype train for Razer's purported gaming smartphone is heating up, with new rumors teasing that it might rock a desktop worthy 8GB of RAM, as well as a slew of other somewhat impressive specs.

Razer's upcoming gaming smartphone will reportedly be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 processors, while we'll have a large 5.7-inch display with a native 2560x1440 resolution. Razer is using mostly off the shelf components, without going into the manufacturing of its own... well, anything inside of this phone. The design and look of the phone are expected to be custom, I can't see Razer launching a new gaming smartphone and not wanting to impress.

I'm expecting RGB LEDs of some form, because if Razer doesn't unveil an RGB gaming smartphone, Corsair will be the ones with their own RGB smartphone soon enough.

Razer has been rumored to release its own smartphone for so long now, it almost doesn't feel real... but it is, and it's coming soon. Razer is teasing an event for November 1, with someone holding a phone-sized device.

Razer hasn't provided any details on the event, other than saying it's "biggest unveiling" will take place on November 1, and the hype being one of the largest gaming peripheral companies in the world releasing a gaming-oriented smartphone would be absolutely huge. We have no idea what to expect from a Razer smartphone, but I'd expect a slick as hell smartphone with a black and green look, and I'm sure some RGB LEDs of some sort.

Google doesn't get to be Google without spending a crap ton of money, so it should come as no surprise that Google spend $7.2 billion getting its apps and search bar onto your smartphone.

Google has been paying Android partners to place search bars on their homescreens, and include pre-loaded apps like YouTube and Chrome. The search giant even pays its biggest competitor, Apple, so that Google can be the default option for built-in search box placement in Safari. Google says that the $7.2 billion is their "traffic acquisition costs", with the amount increasing every year.

Google spends over $19 billion on traffic acquisition per year overall, with nearly half of it getting their apps and services on as many smartphones as it can. But the company is running into walls with EU and US regulators concerned, which has investors worried as well. If regulators start pushing, they could allow OEMs to renegotiate their agreements with Google, and even leave their contracts.

Things can change very quickly for Google, and I'm sure we're going to be seeing these changes in the next 18 months.

Microsoft has quietly put Windows Phone to rest, with Corporate Vice President in the Operating Systems Group at Microsoft, Joe Belfiore saying over Twitter that even with incentives given to developers and even writing apps for them, the "volume of users is too low for companies to invest".

Bill Gates has switched to Android, and so has the Corporate VP of the OSG at Microsoft... so that's saying something. Developers haven't embraced Windows Phone, and with the early problems in the Windows Phone app store, mostly boring and definitely not mainstream (yet forced in TV shows, movies, etc) smartphones.

Microsoft will instead focus on investments into iOS and Android, which will only be good for the company and its users. This will however mean we probably won't ever see a Surface smartphone, and as a hardcore Android fan, that still disappoints me because Microsoft have well and truly proved themselves in the hardware business with many great Surface products.

Samsung had quite a year last year with the battery-related issues surrounding the Galaxy Note 7, all of which seem to be gone on the new Galaxy Note 8, seem to be somewhat present on the new iPhone 8 Plus.

Some users are experiencing the side of the iPhone 8 Plus display separated from the phone itself, something that normally requires an incredible amount of force to do manually. Both the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus were built using water-resistant adhesive that is hard enough to remove, let alone arrive like that out of the box.

Chinese site ThePaper.cn is reporting that an iPhone owner received their new iPhone 8 Plus on October 5, noticing that the screen has been popped open. Inside, there was no sign of an explosion at all, but an Apple spokesperson has chimed in saying that the company isn't commenting on the matter but are looking into it.