The year 2014 witnessed an extravaganza of sorts on the smartphone front; with several noteworthy handsets having been launched by major vendors like Apple, Samsung, LG, Sony and Xiaomi.

In a four-storey electronics mall in Chinese city Shenzhen, stacks of old iPhones are sold every day.

Phones 4u, a major independent mobile phone retailer in the United Kingdom, has gone into administration after its last remaining mobile operator partners, EE and Vodafone, announced cuts in ties with

According to a Reuters report, the production of Apple's next generation iPhone - the iPhone 6 - has apparently hit a snag involving the manufacturing of the screens for the handset.