Xiaomi the money! Photo: Xiaomi

Xiaomi is known for “borrowing” many aspects of Apple’s identity, and here’s one more to add to the list: its sky high valuation.

Having just announced the raising of an extra $1.1 billion in funding, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi announced on Monday that it is now valued at a whopping $46 billion — making it worth more than any other tech startup.

“This round of funding is an affirmation of Xiaomi’s achievements in more than four years of business and a prelude to a new stage of development,” founder Lei Jun wrote on Monday.

The Galaxy Alpha looks good, but it isn’t the success Samsung was hoping for. Photo: Samsung

Samsung is already giving up on the Galaxy Alpha, its first Android-powered smartphone made of metal, according to reports from South Korea. Sources say production will cease as soon as the existing inventory of materials runs out, and Samsung is expected to put more focus into the Galaxy A5 instead.

Amazon gives away paid Android apps every day as part of its Free App of the Day promotion, but for the next few days, the retail giant is really going all out to ensure this Christmas is a good one for Android users. You can now get $220 worth of paid Android apps completely free, and there are many you definitely don’t want to pass up.

The aftermath. Photo: S-blade/Reddit

Like a lot of smartphones, the LG G3 gets pretty warm under heavy use — that’s just normal. What isn’t normal is spontaneous combustion, which is exactly what happened to one G3 before it burned a phone-shaped hole right through its owner’s mattress.

Image: Killian Bell/Cult of Android.

Google has made a small amendment to its Play Store guidelines for developers, banning them from using customer testimonials in their app and game descriptions. The rule is designed to prevent the manipulation of ranking or relevancy by removing potentially irrelevant or misleading keywords or phrases.