Smartphones outfitted with near-field communications could see a jump in shipments from 416 million this year to 1.2 billion in another four years, says research firm IHS Technology. Shipments of phones equipped with the wireless technology rose from 120 million in 2012 to 275 million in 2013, a gain of 128 percent. This year’s number …

HTC may soon introduce a new member of the Desire family, perhaps as soon as Mobile World Congress. A leaked image and basic hardware specifications have surfaced online, indicating that HTC is readying another sizable smartphone. Related stories: Leaked HTC One 2 ‘Mini’ promises a smaller, but still powerful phone HTC One successor may sport two rear cameras HTC looks …

Supercell, the Finland-based game company behind the wildly popular Clash of Clans and Hay Day, will launch its next game in March, the company confirmed to Reuters on Wednesday. Dubbed Boom Beach, the game, which is already available as a trial, will allow gamers to battle it out on beaches. It’s not immediately clear exactly when the game will launch …

Wireless carriers’ salvos in the battle for subscribers have been coming fast and furious lately, and it looks like Verizon Wireless is getting ready to launch a new attack. The US wireless carrier will unveil a “More Everything” plan on Thursday that promises customers more data at no extra cost, doubled bandwidth, 25GB of cloud storage, and unlimited international messaging, …

For the first time ever, more than 1 billion smartphones were shipped worldwide in 2013. This is mostly thanks to Android. New data from research firm IDC shows that Android stayed strong throughout the year reaching a total of 793.6 million shipments — this gave it 78.6 percent market share. While Apple’s iOS held a steady second place with 153.4 …

Chinese handset maker Oppo is expected to introduce at least two versions of its Find 7 smartphone next month, according to recent rumblings. And a post on the company’s Weibo social network account suggests that it’s true. Related stories: Are 2K+ smartphone resolutions overkill? Maybe not. Oppo confirms 2K display for Find 7 smartphone Review: Oppo N1’s swivel camera, rear …

While Sprint is seeing a return to growth, it also continues to bleed money. Sprint, acquired by Japanese carrier SoftBank in July, on Tuesday posted a fourth-quarter loss of $1.04 billion, or 26 cents a share, which was narrower than its year-earlier loss of $1.32 billion, or 44 cents a share. The net loss included $1.53 billion in depreciation and …

T-Mobile is the first carrier to see an Android 4.4.2 KitKat update for the Moto X smartphone. According to release notes posted on Motorola’s Web site, the release is now available for download. Related stories: How will Sprint’s Framily fare against T-Mobile’s ETF buyout? T-Mobile catching up to AT&T, Verizon in customer satisfaction Moto X review The update is a …

The Samsung Galaxy S5 wants to run circles around its smart phone rivals — and this teaser image suggests circles could be part of a new-look interface for Samsung’s hotly-anticipated new Android flagship. Posted on Samsung’s official blog, the new teaser for the S5’s launch this month shows off nine circular icons, symbolising Speed, Outdoor, Curiosity, Fun, Social, Style, Privacy, …

Jumping up from 2013’s lower-end Keon and Peak models, Spanish phone maker Geeksphone plans to sell its new Intel-based Revolution starting February 20 for 239 euros, or about $327. The Revolution comes with either Google’s Android or Mozilla’s Boot2Gecko — the open-source browser-based OS that’s better known as Firefox OS. “Firefox OS is a brand currently not available for independent …