A younger Jony Ive, pre-Apple. One former colleague once told me he looked like “a hairbrush.”

It’s not exactly news that Samsung would like be a whole lot more like Apple. And when you compare the sales figures from Samsung’s ailing mobile division to Apple’s thriving iPhone numbers, who can blame it?

But while the South Korea-based tech giant isn’t going to be able to steal away any of the design brains behind Apple’s must-have devices any time soon, it’s trying to do the next best thing: hiring a former boss from the company Jony Ive helped start before he set sale for Apple in the 1990s.

Is the Mi Note Xiaomi’s prettiest smartphone yet? Photo: Xiaomi

Xiaomi’s more affordable answer to the iPhone 6 Plus is here, and if you’re shopping for a flagship phablet, you should be interested. Not only is it incredibly attractive, it’s also thinner than Apple’s offering, and it’s packing some impressive specifications. It also starts at just $370.

The Oppo RC1 is a midrange stunner. Photo: Oppo

Apple failed to get its sapphire glass ready for its latest smartphones, but Chinese manufacturer Oppo did not. Its new RC1, a midrange handset with a 5-inch display, has a sapphire back panel that allows the device to be incredibly thin but still surprisingly sturdy.

Xiaomi’s clones are being cloned. Photo: Xiaomi

Xiaomi, the Chinese electronics manufacturer that’s famous for taking inspiration from (copying) Apple, has ironically warned consumers not to buy knockoffs of its flagship devices after a recent increase in the number of copycat devices, which are looking to cash in on the company’s success in China.

Spotify will continue to improve Connect instead. Photo: Spotify

A notable omission from Google’s list of services that will support Google Cast was Spotify, the biggest music streaming service on the planet. We assumed Spotify support would be added eventually, but the company has now confirmed it will be snubbing Google’s new platform to concentrate on Spotify Connect instead.