A few years ago, Apple eliminated the audio jack from its iPhones, ending years of tangled cords and loose-fitting earbuds. The move rightfully irked audio fans, citing lost AirPods and monopolized accessories.

Sadly, Apple is continuing its war against I/O ports. By September, the company will release their first official wireless charging mat, the AirPower.

Of course, Apple’s AirPower isn’t the first exclusive charging mat in the smartphone industry. Currently, Android smartphones also tout their own Qi wireless charging mats. However, despite wireless prevalence, Android phone makers have not announced plans to remove wired charging altogether.

Shockingly (or perhaps not), Apple already has plans to remove the iPhone’s Lightning port. According to Bloomberg writer Mark Gurman, the company considered removing the port as early as the iPhone X.

At the time, Apple did not have the guns to back up their vision. Since the AirPower hasn’t launched yet, a push for wireless exclusivity is ill advised.

Although, with the AirPower’s nearing release, Apple’s desire to eliminate all wired accessories is slowly coming to reality. Despite last year’s setback, Apple is still adamant to create a completely wireless iPhone.

Notably, the Lightning port’s capabilities extend from just simply charging. The port also supports media and file transfers from larger devices. Eliminating the port also puts a premium on wireless file transfers.

Without a Lightning port, Apple is realizing an iPhone that will look like a slab of glass. As of now, a Lightning-less iPhone will likely spark more controversy for Apple. The company has already earned a lot of ire for removing the 3.5mm audio port.

Regardless, an I/O-less iPhone is coming sooner than we would like.

SEE ALSO: Apple might switch to USB-C, fast charging in the future

The internet is a wonderful, wonderful thing. But, with great power comes great responsibility.

Following incidents of online exam leaks, Algeria has decided to shut down nationwide internet for high school exams. The blackouts, happening June 20 to 25, mean both mobile and lined internet would be turned off for an hour after the high school diploma exam starts. It has been reported that Facebook will also be blocked throughout the entire period.

Students and staff are also asked to surrender all electronic devices that can access the web when entering any of the 2,000 exam halls. As added measure, the area where the tests are being printed are being secured — metal detectors, surveillance cameras, and signal jammers have been installed.

It was in 2016 when an exam leak happened online that caused widespread cheating. Determined to prevent the incident from happening again, last year’s exams commenced with limited social media access. This year, the government is going all-out. Education Minister Nouria Benghabrit said that although they are “not comfortable” with this setup, “We should not passively stand in front of such a possible leak.”

With the Galaxy S9 phones available in the market and selling like hot cakes, Samsung is already (or has always been) prepping their tenth S-series flagship. There’s a new leaked image going around the internet lately, and it could be the Galaxy S10 we’ve been wanting to see.

Noted leaker IceUniverse posted a photo on Twitter with a caption “This may be a design beyond” and a photo of a phone with it. The photo in question shows off an all-screen phone with virtually no bezels at all. The sides appear to be curved, just like how Galaxy S phones’ have been in the past years.

This may be a design beyond. pic.twitter.com/lViQUsW1Jv

— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) June 20, 2018

There’s also no selfie camera or any visible sensors in front, so they could be somewhere inside the phone. Vivo and OPPO have been pioneering the use of a pop-up mechanism to achieve a high screen-to-body ratio with the NEX and Find X. Samsung might follow suit — unless they have something else in mind.

Also, with no space for the iris scanner, the South Korean company could also use under-display fingerprint sensors or maybe something similar to Face ID to complement the front camera.

Of course, nothing is final and it’s still too early to tell how Samsung’s 2019 flagship will look like. The Galaxy Note 9 will come earlier than the Galaxy S10, so Samsung could test the waters of some new features on their upcoming large-screen phone.

Let’s take things with a grain of salt, but we’ll keep our expectations high. If this turns out to be true in the end, Samsung deserves to be recognized for avoiding the notch completely.

SEE ALSO: Samsung Galaxy S9 steals the crown from iPhone X as best-selling phone