Acer will make a Windows Phone after the OS hits 15% in EU

Acer's smartphone strategy is currently focused solely on making Android smartphones but that may change if Windows Phone reaches 15% market share in Europe. The company's VP of Smartphones Allen Burnes said in an interview that Acer wants to see more demand from consumers on WP before they take risks with Microsoft's OS.

The Acer Allegro is the only WP smartphone the company has made so far. Now, almost three years from its launch, the company still hasn't made a second one, but that may change sooner than you think.

According to a recent report by ABI Research, WP sales have more than doubled in a year. Reports from Strategy Analytics and Kantar World Panel also share similar data.

Not everyone shares Acer's vision on Windows Phone, though. Sony has been rumored to be currently in talks with Microsoft to make a Windows Phone under the Vaio brand. An official photo of an upcoming Samsung WPhone has also leaked just yesterday. Outside of Nokia, Microsoft has not been getting much love from OEMs.

The all new HTC One leaks out wearing AT&T branding

The highly anticipated HTC One successor made yet another unscheduled appearance on Twitter. This time around @evleaks posted a press image of the upcoming smartphone with AT&T branding.

The newly leaked image shows the HTC M8 with an aluminum finish and brings no surprises. It falls right in line with previous press photo leaks where the device appeared in gold, as well as black and gray.

HTC M8 will be released next month, on March 25, likely as the All New One. We will be attending the event, so be sure to tune in for the full scoop on the device.

Sony Xperia M2 pricing details revealed in Netherlands

Details on the pricing of the freshly announced Sony Xperia M2 made the rounds in Netherlands. The mid-range device is said to launch in April for €289.

The smartphone will be offered with free multimedia content when available. It will include three Sony Pictures movie downloads and a free month of Music Unlimited streaming which gives access to over 25 million songs.

Sony Xperia M2 features a 4.8” qHD display and Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 SoC, tucked into a sleek-looking body with the same design as that of the company’s high-end Android devices. You can find out more about the device in GSMArena MWC hands-on.

Project Ara component swapping gets demoed

Google's Project Ara has gotten a lot of attention recently with the announcement of the developer conference due on April 15-16. Happily, at the LAUNCH tech conference one of the Project Ara team members spent a juicy 25 minutes to talk about the modular phone concept. He even went on and demonstrated how swapping components works.

Referred to as Google Ara in the video below, the modular phone will come in three sizes at launch: a mini (about 4"), medium (below 5") and larger (think phablets). We already know that Google wants to keep Ara as cheap as possible. A recent report suggests the endoskeleton to which all modules attach will cost no more than $50.

In the video, the Ara member said that the base of the entire modular phone should run about $15 per unit. It doesn't do anything else than bridging the rest of the components so they can work together.

Google will launch its official Ara store for different modules, but is also keen to have other developers and retailers offer some as well. Check out the 25-minute Project Ara bit from the video below (jump to the 5:00 minute mark).

Alleged Apple iPhone 6 front panel surfaces

The dust has only just began to settle in the post-MWC 2014 mobile world and we already have the next storm coming from Rumorland. An front panel allegedly belonging to the Apple iPhone 6 has shown its face and has led further credence to the rumors that iOS fans will finally be getting their overdue screen size upgrade.

The leaked panel features far slimmer bezels (actually non-existent on the sides), allowing for a notably larger screen to fit in the same footprint. However, even so, our calculation show that the new panel can only accommodate a 4.3” display – far smaller than the initially rumored 4.7”-5” screens.

Of course that might be just one of the prototypes Apple is testing or there could be more than one new iPhone like last year. There’s also the chance that this is an elaborate fake, so take it with a pinch of salt, but if legit the photo shows that at least one of the upcoming Apple smartphones will still be firmly planted in the compact territory.