Alleged official image of Amazon’s phone emerges

Purported official image of the upcoming Amazon smartphone made an appearance. The image is reportedly the work of graphic designers at Amazon and has been verified as the real deal.

At a quick glance, the yet to be annoucned Amazon phone looks like a mashup of design elements from Apple iPhone (particularly the iPhone 5c) and the Samsung Galaxy S family (per that button below the display). The image reveals all sides of the device, except for its top. Unsurprisingly, the handset looks decidedly understated, much like the Kindle Fire of tablets.

This is not the first time the Amazon smartphone leaks.The positioning of the buttons, the SIM slot, as well as the look of the earpiece from those photos fall right in line with today’s image.

The Amazon smartphone is tipped to feature a 4.7” 720p display, Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC with quad-core CPU, 2GB of RAM, and six camera modules for 3D UI effects. The OS will be a highly modified Android build as seen in the Kindle Fire tablets and will only utilize the Amazon app store.

Amazon is tipped to launch its first smartphone at some point in Q3. AT&T is expected to be an exclusive partner. It will offer the device with a special monthly Prime Data package.

HTC One (M8) mini to be called HTC One mini 2

We already know that HTC is working on a mini variant of its flagship smartphone, the HTC One (M8). Today we learn that the upcoming smartphone and the successor of the HTC One mini will be called HTC One mini 2, according to the popular tipster @evleaks.

M8 mini = HTC One mini 2 [comments: http://t.co/XvFgRppiFI]

— @evleaks (@evleaks) May 1, 2014

The HTC One mini 2 is rumored to sport a 4.5-inch 720p display, Snapdragon 400 chipset with quad-core Cortex A7 CPU clocked at 1.4 GHz, 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal memory, expandable via a microSD card. There's also a 13 megapixel rear camera, 5 megapixel front-facing shooter, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0 and Android 4.4.2 KitKat with Sense 6.0 UI on top.

The leakster had earlier revealed that Verizon will carry the upcoming One mini 2, but it remains to be seen if the carrier is going to exclusively offer the phone. And, outside the United States, we know that Swedish carrier Telia will be offering the smartphone after it accidentally listed the One mini 2 on its website.

If the rumors are to be trusted, the HTC One mini 2 will go on sale this month, but there is no official word at the moment.

Samsung Galaxy S5 mini support page spotted on official site

The Samsung Galaxy S5 mini has been rumored for a long time and we’ve encountered its SM-G800 model number a few times. This time it’s right on Samsung’s official web site (the Finnish portal in particular).

Unfortunately, the web page appears to be just a placeholder at the moment with no additional info. The Galaxy S5 mini is rumored to come with a 4.5” 720p screen, Snapdragon 400 chipset and an 8MP camera.The Galaxy S5 mini will be water-resistant with an IP67 rating, just like it's bigger sibling.There’s also an SM-G750 in the works, currently known under the Galaxy S5 Neo moniker. This one seems to be a higher end model - a 5.1” 720p phone with a 2.3GHz CPU - despite the lower model number.

LG G3 hits the assembly line, shooting for 10 million sales

The LG G3 doesn't have a specific launch date yet, but many believe that it will drop sometime near the end of May.

And LG must be a a little busy bee, as the Korean manufacturer is aiming to sell 10 million units of the smartphone at its release.

What further gives credence to these rumors is that LG has announced that it will be throwing an event on May 27th, San Francisco, New York, and London. The following day, the same event will take place in Singapore, Seoul, and Istanbul.

So what will be headlining the event? Why not the company's upcoming flagship smartphone? It seems like a safe bet that the LG G3 will be the star of the show.

Another Apple iPhone 6 dummy unit makes the rounds

Yet another alleged Apple iPhone 6 dummy unit made the rounds online. The mockup is of much higher quality than the one we saw earlier , potentially giving us a better look of the upcoming smartphone.

The latest dummy unit is tipped to be the creation of a case manufacturer and falls right in line with past leaks. It showcases the power/lock and volume buttons on the side of the handset, as well as its already leaked, slightly protruding camera unit with LED flash.

There is no word on the screen size of the handset in the photo. Judging by its proportions however, we reckon that we are looking at the rumored 4.7” iPhone. A number of reports suggest that Apple will launch a duo of large-screen iPhone devices – one with 4.7” screen and one with 5.5” unit.

We don’t know when the iPhone 6 will go official just yet. The usual September time frame is likely.

Samsung ships more smartphones than major competition combined

Samsung is ubiquitous; there’s no doubt that they are a mobile powerhouse, however, the latest IDC quarterly update gives us a look into just how much of a powerhouse the Korean manufacturer is.

30.3% of total smartphone market share is controlled by Samsung, which is about 85 million units, in Q1 2014.

Now compare this number to Apple, Huawei, Lenovo, and LG, who account for 15.5%, 4.9%, 4.6%, and 4.4% respectively; .9% less than Samsung’s share.

All “other” smartphones account for 40.5% of the market share, but these are hardly the bigger players that pose a threat to Samsung’s current market dominance.

IDC predicts that smartphone shipments will reach 1.2 billion units, total, for 2014; a 200 million increase from last year. This is due to growth in the smartphone market and the constant spread of new models entering the market, especially low-range handsets.

If you suprised about this,you shouldn't be,We virtually see a samsung device everywhere we go?