Apple's latest chip technology won't appear in the next-generation iPad until June 2012 at the earliest, according to a firm that tracks the mobile processor industry.

Avago's main smartphone customers are Samsung and HTC, but speculation is rife among analysts that some upcoming wireless devices from Apple, including new iPhones and the iPad 3, could use some Avago chips.

Latest figures from the US Treasury Department show that the country has an operating cash balance of US$73.7 billion. Apple's most recent financial results put its reserves at US$76.4 billion.

The next generation of solar cells may be printed on ordinary paper.

The iPhone 4's super-crisp Retina Display will not remain an Apple exclusive, according to LG Display chief executive Kwon Young-soo

Japanese consumer electronics giant Sharp Corporation and Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Ltd - more famously known for its subsidiary Foxconn which manufactures some of the world's most popular products including the iPhone and iPad for Apple, as well as the Playstation 3 (PS3) for Sony - have joined forces to cut the costs of LCD TV panel supply. Both parties hope that this alliance will enable them to compete more effectively against South Korean rivals like Samsung and LG.

That Apple is making a follow-up to the iPad 2 is no surprise. That it might be sourcing one of the most important components from a company it's currently involved in a massive legal spat with makes for an interesting story.

Samsung Electronics and LG Display, the world's two largest makers of liquid crystal displays (LCDs), are close to securing big orders from Apple, industry sources said.

TSMC has begun trial manufacturing of next generation chips for Apple's mobile devices, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

"Common sense suggests that allegations of copying are necessarily directed at Apple's existing products, to which Samsung has access and could potentially mimic," said US District Court Judge Lucy Koh, "and not at Apple's unreleased, inaccessible, next-generation products."

Imagination Technologies, which designs microchips used in Apple's iPad and iPhone, has doubled its forecast for chip shipments. By 2016, the company expects more than 1bn will be shipped a year, up from a previous forecast of 500m.

Apple ramped up the rhetoric in its patent infringement battle with Samsung on Thursday, filing an amended complaint that includes more allegedly infringing devices and stronger accusations that the company copied the look and feel of its iPhone and iPad.

Samsung's request "is not a good faith attempt to obtain information needed to defend against a preliminary injunction", the documents say. "Rather, it is a transparent and improper attempt to harass Apple by demanding extremely sensitive trade secrets that have no relevance to Apple's infringement claims or to Samsung's defenses to a preliminary injunction."

Citigroup chip analyst Glen Yeung has predicted some possible relationship whereby Intel might provide foundry services to manufacture some of Apple's custom chips that power iPhone and iPad devices. Those chips are made by Samsung at present.

A teenager in China has sold one of his kidneys in order to buy an iPad 2, Chinese media report.

Hon Hai Precision Industry has said its polishing workshops in China resumed operations this week as the company investigates a deadly combustible-dust explosion at one of its plants.

Samsung's total capacity is expected to be eight million 4-inch OLED panels per month by the end of 2011. But the display maker is also said to have delayed investments for larger screen sizes of 6 inches to 9 inches until 2012.

Senior Apple executives are in discussion with Samsung to secure supplies of Retina Display-like screens for the iPad 3, even while the two firms turn to the courts to settle some of their differences over mobile device design.

Apple has proposed a standardized SIM card smaller than those it currently uses in the iPhone and iPad in order to be able to produce thinner devices, an Orange executive was quoted as saying in a Reuters report.

Apple won the first round in a patent fight with Elan Microelectronics over touchpad technology, the ITC said on April 29.

Apple has agreed to add Foxconn Technology Group affiliate Chimei Innolux as its third supplier of sensors for the iPad 2's touch screen, two people familiar with the matter said. Chimei Innolux will begin supplying the components next month.

[Apple's] focus this week has been to troubleshoot all the iPad 2s that customers are returning to the stores. One iPad came back with a post it note on it that said "Wife said no..."

Rumors circulated that Apple may have chosen to TSMC as their new fab in response to new competition from Samsung in the handset and tablet space. Based on analysis performed by UBM TechInsights Lab and Process Analysis personnel, we can say that the A5 in our possession is definitely manufactured by Samsung using their 45nm process.