Apple’s mobile payment service – Apple Pay – will arrive in China in February 2016, according to a latest report by the Wall Street Journal. Specifically, Apple is planning to launch the service in time for the country’s Spring Festival holiday on February 8.

The Cupertino-based company has already signed deals with China’s four main state-run banks that will enable users in the country to link their bank accounts with the mobile payments service when it arrives.

However, despite the deals, the iPhone-maker could still face regulatory issues, the report warns. In addition, there’ll also be stiff competition in the market, with state-run China UnionPay already monopolizing credit and debit card payment processing, and Alipay and WeChat enjoying huge share in electronic payments space.

Apple Pay is currently available in four countries, including the US, UK, Canada, and…

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Xiaomi has announced the new Redmi Note 3 in China. The updated device gets bigger and better in every way over its predecessor, with a new full metal body, fingerprint sensor, and a massive 4000mAh battery, and more.

The new Redmi Note 3 has a full aluminum unibody design with 120-point ultra-fine double sided sandblasting and curved edges. The phone is 8.65mm at its thickest point and weighs 164g, 4g more than its predecessor despite the larger battery.

On the back is a new fingerprint sensor, which Xiaomi claims unlocks the phone in just 0.3 seconds. It remains to be seen if this sensor will only be used for unlocking the device or within apps as well.

Other specs include a 5.5-inch 1080p display, MediaTek Helio X10 processor, 2GB RAM and 16GB storage or 3GB RAM and 32GB storage depending upon the model you choose, 13 megapixel rear camera with phase detection autofocus, 4G dual SIM, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, and MIUI 7.

The phone is priced at RMB 899 for the 16GB model and RMB 1099 for the 32GB model. It will be available in silver, gold, and…

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For those in the UK who didn’t pre-order the BlackBerry Priv, now you have another chance to purchase the device: BlackBerry has announced that the Android-powered smartphone is now in stock at the company’s official online store.

Great news for the UK! #PRIV is now available to buy at #ShopBlackBerry. Click for details https://t.co/4RY3iI5ToM http://pic.twitter.com/vkX98d1EDU— BlackBerry (@BlackBerry) November 23, 2015

The Canadian company is selling the handset for £559.00 (including taxes). In comparison, Carphone Warehouse is selling the SIM-free model for £560, while the listed price on Amazon is £655.

Previously, Blackberry was finding it difficult to keep the Priv in stock at ShopBlackBerry due to which it even had to push the back shipping date by a couple of weeks. However, with the handset back in stock now, it looks like the shipment issues are resolved.

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Alternative Android OS developer Cyanogen has announced that Android 6.0 Marshmallow-based CM13 builds are now available for download. However, as of now, only select phones have been enabled to receive the nightlies.

The device list currently includes OnePlus One (bacon), Nexus 7 (deb & flo), LG G4 (h815), Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 (mondrianwifi), LG GPad 7.0 (v400 & v410), LG G3 Verizon (vs985), and Moto X 2014 (victara). The company says that more devices will be added to the list soon.

Cyanogen also wants you to be aware of a few details on how the new builds will impact your experience before you go ahead and flash them. The company recommends that those currently on CM 12.1 YOG4P or CM 12.1 YOG7D releases should not jump to nightlies unless they are “willing to accept a dip in quality.” Quality approved snapshot for CM13 is expected to arrive sometime in January 2016.

If you are on a 12.1 nightly, and want to flash the new build without using the “Wipe Data/Factory Reset” option, you’ll also have to update your third party addons in the same pass. “This means, if you use Xposed, OpenGapps, etc. flash a Marshmallow compatible version of them immediately after your CM13 flash,” the company said in a blog post.

Finally, keep in mind that the upgrade is not compatible with any third party distributions. So in case you’re running one, you should do a full wipe before making a…

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If you’re in the US and planning to purchase a Sony Xperia Z3+ (model E6533) or Xperia Z4 Tablet (model SGP712), here is some good news: the Japanese company is offering a $50 PlayStation Store credit on the purchase of these devices.

However, what’s worth mentioning here is that the deal is only valid for purchases made through Amazon or BHPhotoVideo till December 31.

To avail the offer, following the purchase of the device, you’ll have to redeem the credit by heading to the dedicated offer website (Source link below) – copy of original sales receipt and the IMEI number present on the side of your Xperia device box will be required in the process. Last date for redemption submissions is January 31.

Once the process mentioned above is complete, you’ll get your $50 PlayStation Store credit via email.

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A Samsung smartphone carrying a model number of SM-J120F has been certified by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US. The device, which is said to be the successor to the Galaxy J1 smartphone, also has a dual-SIM variant with model number SM-J120F/DS.

While the FCC documents doesn’t include any specs or images of the device, its Zauba listing (shown below) reveals a display size of 4.5-inch, compared to the 4.3-inch display that the current J1 sports. The listing also reveals an INR 6,686 ($100) price tag.

Further specs of the new handset are revealed by its GFXBench listing. According to the information available on the bench marking website, the device is powered by a Samsung Exynos 3475 chipset with quad-core 1.3GHz CPU, and comes with 1GB RAM and 4GB internal memory. In terms of camera, there’s a 5MP unit on the back and a 2MP front shooter. The smartphone runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop OS out-of-the-box.

This comes just a day after it was revealed that the South Korean company is also working on a handset named Galaxy J1 mini.

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Although not officially, the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium smartphone, which sports an eye-popping 5.5-inch 4K display, is now available for purchase in the US. That’s over a week after it went on sale in Europe.

Third party retailers including Amazon and Expansys have both standard as well as dual-SIM variants listed on their website. As for the price, while the former is selling the standard model for as low as $778, the dual-SIM variant is available starting at $783. On the other hand, Expansys is selling these models for $780 and $790, respectively.

Keep in mind that these are all international variants of the Z5 Premium, meaning they don’t come with US warranty. Also they’re compatible only with GSM carriers such as T-Mobile and AT&T. There is no word on when Sony will officially start selling the handset in the US.

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When LG halted sales of its newly-launched Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE late last week, it just said there’s “a hardware issue which affects the day-to-day functionality of the device.” Now, the South Korean company has provided some more information on the issue.

LG has revealed that the smartwatch contains a faulty component that has the potential to bring down the wearable’s image quality over time. The company also said that the component in question had never been used in an LG wearable device before.

“During aggressive testing over thousands of hours under severe conditions, it was revealed that this component failed to meet LG’s quality standards and could potentially impact our image quality over the life of the device,” the company explained, although it refrained from divulging further details due to “competitive and supplier relations reasons.”

LG, however, did stress that “the issue in question has no bearing whatsoever on the safety of the device or the…

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Oppo has been known to introduce a little innovation in the smartphone industry. Most known are Oppo’s introduction of 1080p displays into smartphones and the introduction of VOOC, Oppo’s blazing fast charging system, faster than Qualcomm’s Quickcharge 2.0.

Oppo seems to be making a left turn following close behind HTC with a new phone’s hardware leaks. The new hardware features a unibody metal design that looks almost exactly like an iPhone 6 Plus. HTC at least centered the camera lens on the back of the HTC One A9 but Oppo decided to keep it right where the iPhone has it, only changing the orientation of the LED flash.

The Chinese company even has the bottom-firing speaker grille, charging port, and 3.5mm headphone jack identically laid out on the underside of the phone.

Is there a new trend among smartphone manufactures to “take inspiration” from Apple? Maybe. Perhaps Oppo is aiming for markets that are over saturated with mid to low range smartphones and trying to stand out by looking like an easily recognizable high end…

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Meizu’s Blue Charm lineup is leveling up with the latest Meizu m1 metal addition. It keeps the low-budget/high-performance profile but Meizu managed to promote the design to a new premium level without sacrificing the Blue Charm goal…

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