News somehow managed to keep up the pace right before the Christmas break, with major seat changes at Apple and hints at future products, including new iPads and the so-called iPhone 7.
The iPhone 6s was the most searched-for consumer technology item this year in Google's annual Year in Search rankings, published on Wednesday, though Apple did have competition from companies like Samsung and LG.
In a bid to reduce or eliminate the $548 million the company has been forced to pay rival Apple over a patent dispute, Samsung on Friday filed a petition to have its appeal heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The next flagship handset from South Korean conglomerate Samsung will reportedly feature a 3D Touch-like pressure-sensitive display, the company's latest fast follower move as it seeks to claw back marketshare.
The aftermath of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday kept news relatively quiet, but rumors of a new 4-inch iPhone persisted, and Samsung finally agreed to pay out $548 million to Apple — with conditions.
The iPhone 6 and the iPhone 5s were by far the most popular cameras on Flickr during 2015, the photo-sharing service announced during its regular Year in Review feature.
With next year's anticipated "A10" processor expected to power the next-generation iPhone, TSMC will likely gain complete control of Apple's processor manufacturing orders, according to a new report.
Apple is working to switch to OLED displays for iPhones beginning in 2018, a major Japanese publication reported on Wednesday.
Speaking at Samsung Electronics' 2015 Investors Forum, a series of company executives spent hours saying very little, while talking about "innovations" such as phase detection Focus Pixels and camera sensor Deep Trench Isolation that iPhones already have.
Apple's share of the global smartphone market rose 0.6 points year-over-year to 13.1 percent in the September quarter, although Google's Android cemented its lead as the world's dominant mobile platform, Gartner said in research data released on Wednesday.
Rather than fix a flaw that can permanently damage its latest flagship phablet, Samsung has instead opted to revise the packaging for the Galaxy Note 5, warning users not to insert the device's S Pen back into the handset in the wrong direction.
A report examining smartphone brand loyalty found that buyers of higher end devices tend to prefer sticking to what they have, but that Apple has been very successful in inciting switchers to jump to iOS during its iPhone upgrade cycles.
Samsung Electronics has unveiled its new Exynos 8 Octa chip, combining its first custom 64-bit ARMv8 CPU core with the company's proprietary mobile baseband in the same package. But while claiming leadership, the new chip trails Apple in performance.
Google's bug hunt to identify software flaws in Android has revealed 11 exploitable flaws in Samsung's software included on its high end Galaxy S6 Edge flagship, including "a substantial number of high-severity issues," within just a week of looking.
Internal Sony communications indicated that "Spectre" star Daniel Craig and the movie's director Sam Mendes were both opposed to multimillion dollar product placements for Sony or Samsung Android phones because it could tarnish the suave image of James Bond.
Samsung Electronics' IT & Mobile unit reported shipment growth in phones but noted that its "profitability declined" due to the fire sale pricing incurred to boost sales of its disappointing Galaxy S6, along with a lower handset Average Selling Price "due to increased sales of mid- to low-end products."
Apple is said to have begun diversifying its Apple Watch supply chain, bringing Samsung into the fold for its low-power OLED panels, and potentially paving the way for a next-generation iPhone with an OLED panel, according to a new supply chain rumor.
Without the time to copy Apple's more significant features, Samsung hopes that a coat of rose gold paint will help its higher-end phone sales survive a second shock wave from iPhone 6s, due to launch in South Korea next week on October 23.
Apple's refreshed, entry-evel 21.5-inch iMac desktop has been given the teardown treatment, revealing that its standard-resolution display was manufactured by LG Display, while the Wi-Fi antenna design has been slightly tweaked [corrected].
New battery test results, published on Monday, appear to support Apple's claim of little difference in the longevity of an iPhone 6s with a Samsung-made A9 chip versus one manufactured by TSMC.
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Roger Fingas
AppleInsider Staff
Daniel Eran Dilger
Neil Hughes
