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Is Apple iPhone X frenzy pushing Samsung, LG to move up phone launch dates?

Pedaling the development cycle ever faster

The Apple iPhone X is a big hit and its success seems to be putting pressure on other phone makers to move up their timetables when it comes to their next big product launches. BGR is reporting that both Samsung and LG may launch new top-end phones at CES, which is just about six weeks away. The Galaxy S8 halo phone launched just a mere eight months ago, and the LG G6 wasn’t far behind.

But the success of the new iPhone X has both companies scrambling, and you can expect their next new superphones to pack the latest and greatest in terms of materials and specifications, including full-coverage OLED-type screens and speedy new Snapdragon 845 chips from Qualcomm. That’s the rumor, anyway, we’ll know much more as the big CES tech fest gets closer.

A shiny, shiny Office

Most computer users out there typically use one of two operating systems: a version of Microsoft’s Windows OS or Apple’s MacOS, also known as OS X – for the moment. But Google has been chipping away at both with Chrome OS, and they just got a big boost today with the official release of Microsoft Office… for Chrome. That’s right, now you can install the Office suite on your Chromebook and play with the big kids.

Office apps had been coming and going from the Google Play store without any rhyme or reason, and they worked on some machines and not on others. But today’s release – which apparently took place without a lot of fanfare – marks the point where the whole enchilada is now ready to work on all Chromebook models, and for the moment, it looks like it’s free. Keep in mind your version of Chrome OS will need to be updated to the latest and greatest version to run the apps.

A.K.A. The Crowd Avoidance Guide

For many tech enthusiasts, this past weekend was a time to shop for the latest gear at tempting low prices, as Black Friday – which sort of began last Wednesday – has rolled into today, also known as Cyber Monday. Being the tech obsessive folks we are, we aggregated, collated and categorized every great deal we could find, so check out our Cyber Monday buying guide.

We’ve got tech gift ideas for just about everyone on your list – and maybe even a few for yourself. Happy shopping.

We’ve got more news on our Facebook page and YouTube channel, and be sure to tune in to this week’s DT podcasts: Trends with Benefits (general tech shenanigans)  on Thursdays, and Between the Streams (movie and TV topics) every Friday.

Bill Roberson
Former Digital Trends Contributor
I focus on producing Digital Trends' 'DT Daily' video news program along with photographing items we get in for review. I…
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