The Apple Watch was unveiled in September, 2014 during Apple’s annual iPhone event. Set for a release date in spring 2015, we later learned via Tim Cook that it would be coming in April of 2015 and will start at $349.

While we know that the watch will start at $349, there is very little information about how much actual versions will cost – with some predicting that the gold Apple Watch could sell for $10,000 or more.

There was no mention of battery life when Apple announced the watch in September and little has changed on that front. Rumors suggest that it will last “about a day”, but its impossible to know for sure.

So there you have it, your one stop article for getting all the up-to-date news and rumors about the Apple Watch. Remember that the Apple Watch is not a standalone device and will require an iPhone to function (sorry Android users).

The first image is the front of the device which, for lack of better words, nearly looks to be a Galaxy S7-mini. Samsung could install a 5.8-inch RBG AMOLED screen on the Note 6, packing the same pixel density. This new mobile, which is set to be called Samsung Galaxy S7 Active, sports a somehow surprising camouflage paintjob for its back cover.

We have been hearing about Samsung's new Galaxy C series for quite some time now.

After launching its flagship smartphones the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge earlier this year, Samsung is now preparing to unveil the Galaxy C series as well. The phone is supposed to have an IP rating of IP68, which means that the Galaxy S7 Active would be dust-proof and waterproof for up to 30 minutes in up to one meter deep water, Android Authority reported. Samsung already offers similar security options, but the Galaxy Note 6 could put those settings right in the S Note app for even quicker access.

The Galaxy C5 will not come in one, but in two variants of default storage space.

As for the devices that will be arriving in the lineup, rumors indicate they will be the Galaxy C5 and also the Galaxy C7.

Unfortunately, Samsung has yet to make any comment regarding this newly-discovered Samsung Galaxy S7 variant.

Samsung has released the Android Marshmallow update for the Samsung Galaxy Tab A tablet, this is the device with the model number SM-T550.

As for the Galaxy J5, it has been released in the mentioned three countries with a 5.2 inch HD display, 2 GB of RAM, a quad core Snapdragon chipset and a 13 MP camera.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5features a retina and fingerprint scanner, and the Note 6 is rumored to feature the same.

The Korean tech company has shipped over 10 million units of Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge in March, which is why it posted a solid first month of sales. A leaked image obtained by Android Community reveals that the upcoming phone would be the size of a tablet when it is unfolded.

Will they kill the 3.5 mm headphone jack or won’t they? Apple’s iPhone 7 and the leaks around the device are causing some confusion. While most of the earlier rumours claimed the headphone jack will be gone in iPhone 7 series, a new set of leaked images indicate something else.

Apple Insider has put out a report quoting French website Nowhereelse that the headphone jack and current Lightning charger are here to stay.

Nowhere else.fr put out pictures of a new part for the iPhone 7, which was spotted on Chinese social media website Weibo. Based on the pictures, the layout looks very similar to the cable for the iPhone 6s, and yes the 3.5 headphone jack is there.

The report contradicts all rumours and leaks that have come out so far, which claimed that Apple was getting rid of the 3.5 mm headphone jack. Some reports also say that the company is working on Bluetooth supported EarPods. Others hinted at new wireless Beats headphones, which could be sold separately.

Recently design schematics of an ‘iPhone 7 Pro’ were published in Japanese Magazine Mac Fan, which claimed that this ‘Pro’ phone will come with dual-lens iSight camera, and no headphone jack. Instead there will be a Smart Connector where battery cases, other docks can be plugged in, claimed the report. The ‘Smart Connector’ photos also showed three dots at the back of the iPhone 7 Pro.

Like all Apple rumours, we’ll have to take these with a pinch of salt. Apple ditching the 3.5 mm headphone jack might be worrying for some of us who rely on regular headphones, but the company is known for technological leaps, and forcing users to give up their old and much loved accessories.

 

 Few vendors near his rural hometown sold upscale phones, the 19-year-old California resident said. Those that did made the customer pay the full price for the phone up front. A Galaxy S6 in Juan's hometown would have cost him 6,000-7,000 quetzales (US$788-919)--a huge sum in a country where gross national income (GNI) is only US$3,410 per year.

What's more surprising, though, is that when he lived in Guatemala, Alvarado didn't even own a simple flip phone. Why bother? Most people back home, he said, didn't have phones either.

As the mobile sector continues to contract, the question of how companies can reach customers like Alvarado's Guatemalan neighbors becomes more pressing. Most new smartphone users in the next five years will come from emerging markets. For example, an estimated 75% of new mobile subscriptions in the first quarter of 2015 came from the Asia-Pacific region and Africa.

Yet customers in these markets don't have the resources to buy what Sony, Apple, and other big smartphone manufacturers are selling. And the alternatives don't really measure up, whatever Silicon Valley tech evangelists may say.

It is true that prices are dropping, especially in emerging markets, due to an influx of cheap Android smartphones from Chinese manufacturers. But a $30 smartphone, like many feature phones, provides a very limited internet experience--which those aforementioned evangelists would know, if only they'd put down their iPhone 6s to try one. I did, when I was a program manager at Facebook working to expand penetration of its mobile app into emerging markets. And I discovered a shocking fact: on cheap smartphones the Facebook app, which is popular even among rural farmers in Myanmar, barely works at all.

The irony is that even if Facebook's many Internet.org connectivity initiatives succeed, it won't get many people access to Facebook--unless they get access to better devices, too. It's a first-world problem.

Hurdles to mobile access exist even in developed countries. In the US, lower income customers tend to buy no-contract prepaid phones; this option denies them access to the carrier subsidies that cheapen devices for buyers who can afford to commit to two-year contracts. Instead, lower income customers have to pay the full price of the device up front--a consideration that pushes them towards cheaper devices that don't offer a full experience.

"It's a huge struggle for our customers," said Alex Reyes, whose company owns 10 prepaid phone stores in California. And that struggle can have a dramatic impact on citizens' ability to access the internet. About one in 10 Americans have no high-speed internet access beyond their phone's data plan.

Many vendors and carriers, including Verizon, AT&T, and Apple, offer some form of installment plan, but they're only accessible to customers with strong credit. Customers like Reyes', who don't have credit histories, are all too often left in the cold.

Alvarado in this case was lucky. In California, he was able to pay for a Galaxy S6 with an installment plan despite his lack of credit history. Now he has full access to apps like Snapchat, Facebook, and WhatsApp, which he uses to keep in touch with friends and family from home.

"Devices, not data, are the answer"

Conversations about widening internet access for the underprivileged tend to focus on the cost of data, not devices. For instance, Facebook's controversial Free Basics service, which lets smartphone users access "essential" websites without data charges (or adequate privacy protections, according to many critics), has a stated aim of bringing more people online. The reasoning seems to be that if data is cheap, the devices to access it will follow.

But in most of the world, as noted by many, the cost of devices is the problem.

About three-quarters of the world's offline population is low-income, rural, and elderly. For these people, smartphones are as far out of reach as other necessities of modern life. That's particularly true of the more expensive devices needed to take full advantage of the internet in 2016. Companies need to innovate less around expanding networks and more around getting adequate devices into the hands of those who need them, whether through widening access to installment plans and carrier subsidies or through other, as yet undiscovered means.

What those who take the internet for granted don't appreciate is that for those in developing countries, smartphones can be a gateway to economic empowerment. They help vendors streamline their retail businesses with mobile payment systems and farmers to research the best fertilizers and crops for their climate. They can also help the unbanked establish their creditworthiness and gain access to loans. And then there are the priceless intangibles, like helping immigrants like Juan keep in touch with their families back home.

If we can smooth the road for the next one billion, it will pay enormous dividends to the global community as a whole.

*Name has been changed to protect privacy.