Boasting a host of everyday functions, smartphones are the modern day Swiss Army knives. They’ve replaced our watches, books, travel passes and loyalty cards. And now, De La Rue – the British printer of secure documents and banknotes – is working on a way of adding your passport to that list.

Smartphones are no longer just a means of communicating. They wake us up, get us from A to B and even help us find love. We’ve almost forgotten their original purpose. Text trumps voicecalls and apps trump SMS – it’s a good time to ask – what’s the future of the mobile phone?

The average Gen Yer spends five hours a week taking photos of themselves. Knowing how much this group loves a selfie, and that ease is considered the most important feature of banking, MasterCard is hoping its ‘selfie’ payment method will get them snapping and spending like there’s no tomorrow.

Shanghai has signed a historic agreement with media conglomerate Tencent, to turn the Chinese megapolis into a tech-enabled smart city. But within the futuristic plans is a familiar presence; the entire operation will run on China’s most popular social network, WeChat.