Samsung Electronics is considering purchasing mobile memory chips from rival SK Hynix Inc for future products including its new flagship Galaxy S smartphone to be launched this month, JK Shin, head of Samsung's mobile business, said on Thursday.

Samsung is not done pumping the smartphone form factor with growth hormones-a "Mega" phone with a 6.3-inch screen is reportedly in the works.

Samsung still has its challenges in trying to beat Apple for consumers' loyalty.

Samsung Semiconductor is moving swiftly to begin work on a new 680,000-square-foot office project that will be built on its existing 215,000-square-foot office complex at North First Street and West Tasman Drive.

"Furthermore, Digitimes Research published in January suggests that by the end of 2014, global sales of UHDTVs could pass the 10 million mark, despite their high price tags, humongous screens and lack of native content."

The latest toxic gas leaks may not have caused serious physical harm, but the fact that the culprit companies failed to promptly report to state authorities is raising suspicions of corporate negligence.

Samsung's disclosure comes after people familiar with Apple's plans said last month the company has about 100 product designers working on a wristwatch-like device that may perform similar functions to the iPhone and iPad.

In a rare interview a day before Samsung Electronics's launch of a new flagship smartphone, Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller on Wednesday played down the expected competition from the device. He also discussed how he believes products that run Google's Android software, such as Samsung's phone, are inferior to Apple's iPhone.

Despite continued rumors that Apple has been working very hard to transition away from Samsung for production of A-series chips, it appears that Apple has not yet been able to make that step on a mass production basis, as this new smaller A5 is still being fabbed by Samsung.

Samsung has failed to secure a iPhone ban in Japan in its latest patent fight with Apple.

Samsung said it was 99% sure that the phone wasn't one of theirs, adding: "It looks more like an HTC model."

It's clear Samsung is serious about expanding its footprint in Silicon Valley. In December the Korean company announced it is building a 1.1-million-square-foot R&D center in San Jose and an incubator in Palo Alto. This week it also unveiled a "Strategy and Innovation Center" in Menlo Park, which Sohn oversees.

"Fuelled by robust demand for its popular Galaxy models, Samsung was the star performer, shipping a record 396.5 million mobile phones worldwide and capturing 25% market share to solidify its first-place lead," said Neil Shah, senior analyst at Strategy Analytics.

Samsung plans to invest US$1.7 billion in expanding and fitting out its operations in Kunshan, a fast-growing manufacturing hub west of Shanghai, the Xinhua news agency said on Sunday.

The successor to Samsung Electronics' blockbuster Galaxy S3 could launch in April. That's according to Samsung news Web site SamMobile, which pegs the phone's launch on April 15.

Samsung Electronics is looking to supply chips to more Chinese and other emerging smartphone makers, the head of its system chip business said, to counter any fall-off in demand from Apple, which is weaning itself off Samsung chips used in its iPhones and iPads.

Industry experts say brisk sales of its latest smartphones, the Galaxy Note 2 and Galaxy S3, have driven its operating profit to an all-time high.

Huawei Technologies, ZTE, and Samsung Electronics were named in a new patent- infringement complaint filed by InterDigital over technology related to the latest mobile-phone standards.

Samsung has done a very good job selling its brand of Google's Android phones. And apparently Google has paid attention: It is bringing over the guy who headed up Samsung's marketing to do the same job at its Motorola unit.

Samsung Electronics has acquired Nvelo, a Silicon Valley vendor of products for caching data on flash-based SSDs.

Just when you thought smartphones couldn't get any bigger, rumor has it that Samsung will put a 6.3-inch OLED display into its Galaxy Note III.

Qualcomm has said that a shortage of its advanced smartphone processors is almost resolved as manufacturing partners including Samsung Electronics boosted production.

Apple shares tumbled more than 6% on December 5, chalking up their biggest single-day loss in four years as fears grow about intensifying competition in the mobile device market.

The two companies are expected to ship an estimated 353 million smartphones and hold a combined 47% share of the total smartphone market in 2012. Smartphone suppliers under pressure include Nokia, RIM and HTC, each of which is expected to register steep double-digit year-over-year declines in smartphone unit sales this year.

Ericsson has filed suit in Texas, arguing that Samsung refuses to renew a patent licensing deal with Ericsson for standards essential telecommunications technology.

The Galaxy S3 E210s was released in Korea recently and with its launch, Samsung sent a message to the chipset giant Qualcomm by dropping the Qualcomm modem in favor of its home grown solution.

Samsung Electronics said an internal audit of suppliers in China found "inadequate practices" that include employees working more overtime than allowed by law.

Samsung Electronics has earmarked Malaysia to be its largest operations base outside South Korea by 2015.

Some analysts said that the latest decision by the court, giving Samsung access to Apple's deal with HTC, may have a big impact on Samsung's legal battle with Apple.

The company is expected to ship 61.5 million smartphones in the fourth quarter, said UBS analyst Nicolas Gaudois, as reported by the Yonhap News agency. That number would prove a 5% gain over the 58 million estimated shipments for the third quarter.

Samsung will describe the first mobile applications processor to use ARM's big.little concept at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in February.

Samsung has made no secret of the fact that it provides a number of the key components inside Apple's flagship iPhone and iPad devices, even while actively competing against them with its own Galaxy line of Android competitors. A major change in that relationship has now been reported out of Korea, however, where the Chosun Ilbo says Samsung has increased the price of manufacturing Apple's application processor by nearly 20%.