The term "borderless display" doesn't sound as amazing as it did a few months ago because almost every company out there has a model with minimal bezels now. I say minimal because no phone can truly skip bezels entirely, at least not yet. However, a latest rumor brought forth by SamMobile seems to indicate that the Galaxy S9 will take the term bezel-less even more seriously than before by opting for a screen-to-body ratio as high as 90%! That's an improvement over the already impressive 84% scree-to-body ratio which the Galaxy S8 sports.

The images you see here have been leaked from a smartphone case manufacturer, Ghostek and as you can probably guess, the case is indeed designed for the upcoming Galaxy S9. Aside from the narrower bezels, if the images are accurate, it looks like Samsung will finally be positioning the fingerprint scanner in the middle of the S9's back and that would definitely be an improvement. What it would also mean is that the S9 won't have a fingerprint scanner embedded into the display either.

Leaksters: SlashLeaks and BGR

Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)

It has now been about a week since Samsung first started to roll out the Android security updates for some of its smartphones and now it's time for the Galaxy Note 8 to receive the same OTA package. One would think that being the company's latest flagship handset, it would get the update sooner than the other handsets, but they would be wrong. Although some carriers (including T-Mobile) did already start to ship the update out to the Note 8 in the US, this one is rolling out in China (SM-N9508) and Hong Kong (SM-N9500).

Check out the following to get an idea of what's to expect with the OTA security package of the month.

·         Patches for 61 Common Vulnerabilities in the Android OS

·         Patches for 6 of Samsung's own UI vulnerabilities

·         Security patch against the Krack Attack Wi-Fi vulnerability

If you own a Galaxy Note 8 in China, you should be prompted to download and install firmware version N9508ZMU2BQK1 any time now. If you are in Hong Kong with your Note 8, firmware version N9500ZHU2BQK1 should be making rounds any minute now.

Head over to our firmware section to find all the latest available updates for your Samsung smartphones and tablets.

Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)

A photo has surfaced yesterday which claims to be a live shot of the Galaxy A7 (2018) in hand. It is neither hard nor uncommon for people to manipulate existing smartphone models and make them resemble an upcoming model by following rumors, but whether that is the case here or not, we will let you decide for yourself.

True or not, what we can see in the picture is quite promising. It looks like the Galaxy A7 (2018) will sport two dual cameras and an 18.5:9 Super AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution. Early rumors had indicated this and more. According to other reports, the phone may also sport the 1.6GHz 7885 64-bit octa-core SoC, 6GB of RAM, a single 16-mp rear shooter and a 3,600mAh battery to power it all. In case you are wondering, the image was leaked and published by SlashLeaks; the famous leakster. We will now have to wait and see if the rumors and this image matches up to the original device on release.

Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)

It's no secret that the two giants had been in collaboration for the last year or so and we also knew that the Galaxy S8 Microsoft Edition was coming, but now it's finally here. The smartphone is available from Microsoft's own online store in the US if you are interested in buying it. In case you are wondering, yes, the Microsoft Edition Galaxy S8+ is also available for purchase at the store. As of now the Galaxy S8 is priced at $724.99, while the S8+ is priced at $824.99 at the MS Store with special offers for Black Friday.

In terms of hardware, there's nothing new here because they are identical to any other US version of the two handsets. The main difference is in the incorporation of Cortana, Microsoft's own digital AI assistant, which is probably a bit awkward for Bixby now... Aside from that, the Microsoft Edition includes a number of the PC giant's applications, including Microsoft Launcher for easily accessing various file types and documents.

Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)

According to a post by Ice Universe (famous leakster), Samsung could very well be working on an ultra-compact smartphone which will likely sport a borderless display as well. When we say ultra-compact, what we really mean is less than 5-inches and although that would not be considered ultra-compact in the old days, it is most certainly so now. It's likely that Samsung will decide to go with the 18.5:9 aspect ratio on the mini display, which would practically make the phone even smaller, thereby justifying the ultra-compact moniker.

If you are interested, then you should know that there is no guarantee that the handset will ever see the light of day. Ice Universe makes that part clear in the post itself. SamMobile is of the opinion that this could very well be the Galaxy A3 (2018) or even the Galaxy S9 Compact, if Samsung does indeed decide to launch the handset of course. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)