MacRumors

SlashGear reports on an article [Google translation] from Chinese site DoNews claiming that Apple's iPad mini display partner AU Optronics has a Retina-resolution display in the pipeline for the next generation of the device, which is expected to be launched next year. There has been considerable discussion about how quickly Apple might be able to move to a Retina display in the device, and today's report suggests that Apple may not have to wait several generations to make the jump as it did with its other iOS devices.

A separate report from MENAFN claims that AU Optronics will be adopting indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) and Gate IC on array (GOA) technologies in order to reach the Retina resolution in a thin design required for the iPad mini.

It is said that ultrahigh resolution can not be developed without the technology of indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO), and the technology of Gate IC on array (GOA) is also indispensable since the next-generation iPad Mini will have an ultra-narrow frame. The technology of GOA helps save the room of IC on the rim and narrow the frame of the screen to the largest extent.

Speaking of the progress of the development of iPad Mini, AUO claimed that it had solved the problem of yield and there would be no light leak as existed before. The company would ship the products in large scale in the fourth quarter.

One major issue with both of the reports is confusion over the pixel density on these panels. Both reports claim that the Retina-level iPad mini display would carry a density of 497 pixels per inch (ppi), whereas such a display would actually have the same 326 ppi seen on the last several generations of the iPhone. MENAFN also misstates the density of the full-size iPad's display as 326 ppi, while DoNews correctly lists it as 264 ppi.

Continuing the seemingly endless patent lawsuits between Apple and Samsung, Apple today argued that Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet infringes on its patents, as well as Samsung's implementation of the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system on its devices.

Apple has also said it wants to add a number of Samsung products with stylus pens to its lawsuit as well, Bloomberg reports.

Andrew Liao, an Apple attorney, told Grewal today that the Galaxy Nexus is the only phone with Jelly Bean that Apple seeks to add to the patent complaint. Liao also said Apple wants to add 17 devices that could use a stylus even though the products don’t ship with a stylus.

Victoria Maroulis, an attorney for Samsung, said the company wants to add only one product, the iPhone5, to its complaint. Maroulis said Samsung opposes the addition of "stylus products in 17 new devices" to Apple’s claims.

"By adding the stylus, Apple is going to enlarge the case significantly," she said.

The case regarding the Galaxy Note 10.1 and Samsung's implementation of Jelly Bean is scheduled for trial in 2014. Judge Lucy Koh will also consider appeals in the previously decided Samsung v. Apple case in December.

In what should not be a significant surprise, Apple is already hard at work on OS X 10.9, the next major version of its Mac operating system. Signs of OS X 10.9 showing up in web logs were publicized [Google translation] earlier today by Czech site Letem světem Applem, and 9to5Mac confirmed that some of the OS X 10.9 hits showing up on its own site were coming from Apple's corporate network.

A look at our own logs shows similar activity, although there has not been a noticeable uptick in hits over the past several months. Rather, we have been seeing a number of spikes in activity since at least mid-August, consistent with limited internal testing during the working week. Similar patterns were previously seen for OS X 10.8 in 2011 and OS X 10.7 in 2009/2010.

It is trivial to fake such identification strings, meaning that at least some of the data should be considered untrustworthy. But hits identified as coming from Apple's own networks carry a much greater likelihood of being legitimate, and so it seems fairly clear that Apple is indeed using systems running OS X 10.9 to browse the Internet.

A release date for OS X 10.9 is currently unknown, but Apple has stated that is moving toward a more rapid development cycle on OS X, with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion's July 2012 launch coming almost exactly one year after the debut of OS X 10.7 Lion. Assuming a similar timeline for OS X 10.9, Apple may begin releasing developer previews in early 2013 ahead of a public launch in the middle of the year.

Just as Apple's iPad mini joins the market of smaller tablets with displays of 7-8 inches, The Verge reports that Microsoft is preparing to launch its own 7-inch tablet. Interestingly, rather than simply being a smaller version of its just-launched 10-inch Surface tablet, the forthcoming "Xbox Surface" tablet will be a gaming-focused device running a scaled down version of Windows.

Alleged specs for the device leaked back in June, and The Verge now says that the leak was indeed accurate at the time, although the company's plans have continued to evolve.

The Xbox Surface will likely include a custom ARM processor and high-bandwidth RAM designed specifically for gaming tasks. We're told these specifications could be altered to accommodate an unannounced Intel SoC and that the Xbox Surface is being developed independent of specific hardware architecture. Microsoft's Xbox Surface won't run a full version of Windows, rather this 7-inch tablet will run a custom Windows kernel. Messaging and other tablet functions may be supported, but the focus is on gaming.

Microsoft is said to be operating in strict secrecy on the Xbox Surface project, locking down several buildings on its campus as it apparently brings teams on to develop games and other software for the device. Microsoft is said to also be planning for production of the device to take place at the same dedicated facilities being used for the larger Surface rather than using traditional contract assembly companies like Pegatron or Foxconn.

Following last Friday's launch of the fourth-generation iPad, Apple has apparently already come close to meeting demand for the new device. As noticed by 9to5Mac, Apple is now listing all Wi-Fi models of the new iPad as "in stock" in the company's U.S. online store.

The immediate availability appears to extend to a number of Apple's online stores around the world, including the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and Singapore. Shipping estimates remain at 3-5 business days in most of Apple's other online stores for countries where the device has launched, but it is not unusual for changes in Apple's shipping estimates to roll out to different regions on slightly different schedules.

The iPad mini remains in short supply, with Apple continuing to quote shipping estimates of two weeks for new orders of Wi-Fi models. Cellular-capable models appear to remain on track, with Apple quoting "Mid November" in the United States and "Late November" in other countries.

Reuters reports that regulators with the European Union are preparing to approve an offer from Apple and four book publishers to settle an antitrust action related to e-book pricing.

Apple, Simon & Schuster, News Corp unit HarperCollins, Lagardere SCA's Hachette Livre, and Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, the owner of German company Macmillan, made the proposal to the European Commission in September.

The move came after the EU antitrust authority opened an investigation into the companies' e-book pricing model, which critics say prevents Amazon and other retailers from undercutting Apple.

Officials in the U.S. and Europe have been taking on Apple and publishers over a shift to an agency model for pricing in which publishers set retail prices for books and distributors such as Apple and Amazon receive a set percentage of the sales price. The model, championed by Apple for the 2010 launch of the iBookstore, was intended to reduce Amazon's dominance in a market where it could purchase books at wholesale prices and sell them at a deep discount to undercut other retailers.

A key part of Apple's agency model was a "most favored nation" clause that prevented publishers from selling books to other retailers at prices lower than those offered to Apple. The clause was intended to prevent Amazon from striking deals to continue undercutting other retailers, but quickly drew criticism and the attention of regulators for potential price collusion effects.

Under concessions offered by Apple and publishers in the European case, Apple's agency model would be significantly unraveled, with Amazon and others being allowed to set their own pricing for books.

Following up on yesterday's report from Bloomberg that has rekindled discussion of Apple potentially making a switch from Intel's processors to custom ARM-based chips for its Mac lines, AllThingsD takes a closer look at the landscape to analyze the benefits and challenges of such a move.

The report contrasts Intel's focus on performance with ARM's focus on power efficiency and notes that there is no inherent reason why Apple couldn't push ARM technology more toward the performance end of the spectrum to make the chips more suitable for desktops and notebooks.

If a company decided it wanted to design an ARM chip that was, as [analyst Nathan] Brookwood put it, “hell-bent on performance,” it could be done. “You could get a pretty fast machine,” he says.

Trouble is, it would have to be not only be fast, but have a really excellent roadmap lasting well into the future that not only met but exceeded that of Intel. That’s a tall, tall order.

The report points to ARM's just-announced 64-bit processor designs as being key to any move into the Mac, and notes that Russian company Elbrus Technologies has developed a Rosetta-like emulation technology that could allow ARM chips to run software written for Intel processors.

On the flip side, Intel has a long track record of being at the forefront of processor performance and a strong history with Apple since the company's Mac lines transitioned from PowerPC chips seven years ago. As a result, any decision to switch from Intel to ARM obviously can not be made lightly, and Apple is clearly taking an extended timeframe to examine the possibility. But with Bob Mansfield now heading up a division of Apple dedicated new technologies in wireless and semiconductors, it seems that there may be a renewed focus on pushing the boundaries of the ARM platform even further.

Apple is considering dropping Intel CPUs in favor of its own chip design, according to a report from Bloomberg. It was rumored last year that Apple was considering switching from Intel to ARM processors in future laptops.

Apple engineers have grown confident that the chip designs used for its mobile devices will one day be powerful enough to run its desktops and laptops, said three people with knowledge of the work, who asked to remain anonymous because the plans are confidential. Apple began using Intel chips for Macs in 2005.

While Apple is now committed to Intel in computers and is unlikely to switch in the next few years, some engineers say a shift to its own designs is inevitable as the features of mobile devices and PCs become more similar, two people said. Any change would be a blow to Intel, the world’s largest processor maker, which has already been hurt by a stagnating market for computers running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows software and its failure to gain a foothold in mobile gadgets.

Apple has recently moved away from using off the shelf chips in its iOS devices in recent years, launching its latest A6 and A6X chips based on custom designs. The company has acquired a number of hardware firms to ramp up its expertise in integrated circuit design.

Apple acquired chip designer P.A. Semi in 2008 for $278 million, ARM specialist Intrinsity in 2010, and most recently, Israeli flash memory firm Anobit earlier this year.

Apple first announced its move to Intel processors back in 2005, dropping PowerPC chips because of issues with power consumption and limited availability of high-performance processors.

Research firm IDC today released its preliminary estimates of worldwide tablet shipments for the third quarter of 2012, finding that several Android tablet manufacturers saw very strong growth as Apple stagnated during the lead-up to the iPad mini launch. As a result, Apple's share of the market fell to 50.4% from 59.7% in the year-ago quarter and 68.2% in the second quarter of this year.

"After a very strong second quarter, Apple saw growth slow as both consumer and commercial (including education) shipments declined, and rumors of a forthcoming iPad mini began to heat up," said Tom Mainelli, research director, Tablets at IDC. "We believe a sizeable percentage of consumers interested in buying an Apple tablet sat out the third quarter in anticipation of an announcement about the new iPad mini. Now that the new mini, and a fourth-generation full-sized iPad, are both shipping we expect Apple to have a very good quarter. However, we believe the mini's relatively high $329 starting price leaves plenty of room for Android vendors to build upon the success they achieved in the third quarter."

Second-place Samsung saw its shipments more than quadruple year-over-year and more than double from just the previous quarter. Amazon has also experienced strong growth with the Kindle Fire and its successors, moving rapidly to secure nearly 10% of the market.

Historically, tablet shipment numbers have been viewed as flawed as each new iPad competitor flooded the market with shipments only to see the devices languish on store shelves. But with Samsung, Amazon and others now beginning to establish some track records and momentum in the tablet market, these shipment numbers are likely to be increasingly reflective of customer preference.

Much of the discussion about the iPad mini has centered around the device's display, which reportedly represents 43% of the overall cost of manufacturing. While the display is said to take advantage of new "GF2" technology to allow for a thinner, high-quality display, it does not carry the Retina-level resolution users have become accustomed to in the iPhone and iPad.

DisplayMate's Ray Soneira has now put the iPad mini's display through its paces, publishing a new iPad mini Display Technology Shoot-Out comparing its performance to that of the full-size iPad, as well as Amazon's Kindle Fire HD and Google's Nexus 7. Overall, Soneira found that the iPad mini's display is "very capable", but surprisingly falls short of competing devices in a number of areas.

The iPad mini is certainly a very capable small Tablet, but it does not follow in Apple’s tradition of providing the best display, or at least a great display – it has just a very capable display. What’s more, the displays on existing mini Tablets from Amazon and Google outperform the iPad mini in most of our Lab tests as documented below in the Shoot-Out Comparison Table. Some of this results from constraints within the iPad product line, and some to realistic constraints on display technology and costs, but much of it is due to a number of poor choices and compromises.

Among the issues Soneira found with the iPad mini's display:

- Lower resolution: This is obviously not a surprise given the cost and power requirements of putting in a full Retina-level display at 326 pixels per inch (ppi), but the 163 ppi screen of the iPad mini even falls short compared to the 216 ppi displays of the Kindle Fire HD and the Nexus 7.

- Reflectance: The iPad mini's screen reflectance measures at a "surprisingly high" 9.0%, meaning that the iPad mini's display reflects 53% more ambient light than the Nexus 7's display and 41% more than the Kindle Fire HD's screen. Both of the competitors also offer better contrast under high ambient light.

- Color gamut: The iPad mini's color gamut registers at 62%, on par with the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4, but below the 100% figure for latest iPhone and full-size iPad models and below the Kindle Fire HD and Nexus 7 at 86%.

While the iPad mini's display falls short of its larger sibling and more direct competitors on pure specs, Soneira does note that the display holds up fairly well in real-world usage due to excellent calibration and color management processing.

A detailed comparison among the iPad mini, Kindle Fire HD, and Nexus 7 can be found in the table accompanying the report.

In the wake of Apple's move to replace the Google-powered Maps app with its own app in iOS 6, Google has been reported by numerous sources to be working on a standalone version of its service to be submitted to the App Store.

But while Apple has been willing to advertise a number of alternative mapping solutions while it works to improve its own Maps app, The Guardian reports that sources within Google believe it is "unlikely" Apple will approve Google's app for inclusion in the App Store.

Sources at Google familiar with its mapping plans say they are "not optimistic" that Apple will ever approve a dedicated Google Maps iOS app. Though the app is reportedly in development and should be ready to ship by the end of the year, the sources say their plans are only proceeding in "the unlikely event" that Apple will choose to approve the app.

According to sources within Google, who appear to be split as to whether the departure of iOS chief Scott Forstall will improve Google's chances, there is little evidence that Apple is interested in embracing Google-based mapping solutions.

Specifically, they point to the lack of any mapping app in the "Find maps for your iPhone" section of the App Store - accessible only via iPhones or iPads - that use the Google Maps APIs to call wirelessly for location, routing or point-of-interest (POI) data. [...]

Apps such as the free Maps+ app, which uses Google Places APIs and Google Maps tiles to bring Google Maps back to the iPhone, and the £3 app Quick Route, which mashes Google's directions and locations database with Apple's Maps tiles, are noticeably absent from it, even though a Google source says they are the two apps that would give back many of the capabilities lost with the advent of Apple's Maps in iOS 6.

The Google sources reportedly believe that these omissions are deliberate in order to minimize the visibility of Google-based mapping apps, although Apple CEO Tim Cook did mention the web-based version of Google Maps as an alternative in his open letter addressing the Maps issue.

While a number of vendors have been launching unofficial Lightning accessories while Apple works to bring official partners up to speed on the new standard, Belkin today became the first official vendor to introduce accessories using the Lightning connector.

“Belkin was the first third-party manufacturer to develop accessories for the 30-pin connector back in 2003, and we are thrilled to be first to market again with solutions for the new Lightning connector,” said Martin Avila, general manager of Belkin’s core division. “People are eager for Lightning accessories and Belkin’s give them a reliable way to keep their new iPhone 5, iPad 4th generation, iPad mini or iPod touch charged, protected, and ready to go.”

Belkin's first two products include a car charger and a Charge + Sync Dock, each priced at $29.99. Belkin is currently accepting pre-orders for the new accessories, which will begin shipping by November 15.

The car charger is the only one of the two products to actually include a Lightning connector from Belkin, as the dock simply accommodates the standard Lightning to USB cable offered by Apple.

Over the past several months, we've been following the situation with a court case in the United Kingdom in which Apple was ordered to post an acknowledgement on its website and place advertisements in newspapers and magazines acknowledging that Samsung did not infringe upon the protected iPad design with its line of Galaxy Tab devices.

The original statement published by Apple playfully quoted statements from the judge's ruling saying that the Samsung Galaxy Tab was "not as cool" as the iPad and noted that it had won cases against Samsung in other jurisdictions, but the court did not take kindly to Apple's additions to the required text.

Apple has now posted revised text linked from its main UK page, with the new text appearing to be in compliance with the court's order. But as The Next Web points out, Apple has added a bit of code to its site to ensure that the notice can not be seen by users unless they scroll down the page.

This code essentially ensures that the iPad mini advertisement takes up the whole page. In other words, no matter your resolution, you won’t see the statement without scrolling down the page. It’s no wonder that it took Apple so long to post the second apology; the company was likely looking for loopholes. [...]

What this does show, however, is that Apple is very unhappy with the verdict in the UK. The company is doing everything it can to ensure as few people know about the issue as possible. Yet it’s antics like this one that bring the verdict more and more into the spotlight.

In our testing, a Safari window with the toolbar, bookmark bar, tab bar, and status bar turned on would have to be over 1700 pixels tall before the full Samsung text at the bottom of the page would be visible without scrolling.

The code is actually being used on a number of Apple's international sites that do not include the Samsung acknowledgement, giving the company the ability to claim that it was not specifically deployed to hide the statement, but it is not present on the main apple.com front page. It is also not the first time Apple has used such vertically responsive design, as it used similar scripts to adjust the layout of the main pages when the iPhone 5 was being featured.

AllThingsD reports on an iPad mini teardown from research firm IHS iSuppli estimating the component costs for Apple's new iPad mini at $188 for the 16 GB model.

The base model, a Wi-Fi-only 16 gigabyte iPad mini, which sells for a starting retail price of $329, costs about $188 to build. Adding additional memory — the options are 32GB and 64GB — adds only incremental cost but a fair amount of profit, amounting to an additional $90 for the 32GB version and $162 per unit on the 64GB model.

The report notes that approximately 43% of the device cost is related to the display, which adopts an expensive new process known as GF2 to reduce the part's thickness, although costs are expected to come down as the production process is refined.

The bill of materials estimate provides support for Apple CEO Tim Cook's claim that the iPad mini has been priced aggressively with a profit margin significantly below the company's average. While the entry-level iPad mini is priced at $329 for a product that costs Apple $199 to build, the iPhone 5 costs Apple just $10 more to build but sells for $649. The iPad mini is, however, more in line with the full-size iPad, which IHS iSuppli estimated to carry a bill of materials of $306 for the entry-level third-generation model at its launch earlier this year.

9to5Mac reports that among the new features included in the iOS 6.1 beta seeded to developers late last week is the ability to purchase movie tickets through Siri. The feature, which is currently limited to the United States, integrates with Fandango to facilitate purchases.

When a user asks for movie tickets for a certain movie, the applicable showtimes and theater information will be shown. Then, a user can click the buy movie tickets button and they will be routed to finish their purchase via the Fandango app from the App Store. If the user does not have Fandango installed, Siri provides a button to download the Fandango app.

Apple says that the feature is currently exclusive to users in the U.S. Additionally, developers who have used the feature say that it is not compatible with all theaters. Compatible theaters listed by Siri are accompanied by a small movie tickets icon.

Siri already offers some movie theater features, including the ability to look up showtimes, access reviews, and play trailers, and Fandango integration marks an expansion of Apple's partnerships with third-party apps such as Yelp and OpenTable to extend Siri's functionality.

Apple today announced that it has sold a total of three million iPads since the launch of the iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad on Friday. The number was not broken down into separate counts of iPad and iPad mini sales.

Apple today announced it has sold three million iPads in just three days since the launch of its new iPad mini and fourth generation iPad—double the previous first weekend milestone of 1.5 million Wi-Fi only models sold for the third generation iPad in March. The Wi-Fi + Cellular versions of both iPad mini and fourth generation iPad will ship in a few weeks in the US and in many more countries later this year.

“Customers around the world love the new iPad mini and fourth generation iPad,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We set a new launch weekend record and practically sold out of iPad minis. We're working hard to build more quickly to meet the incredible demand.”

Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White has also released a new research report indicating that the iPad mini was completely sold out at 60% of surveyed U.S. Apple retail stores this weekend, with 16 GB models in both colors sold out at 100% of surveyed stores.

Of those stores that still had some iPad mini stock available, the 16GB in Black & Slate and White & Silver were 100% sold out, while 90% of the 32GB in Black & Slate were sold out and 76% of the White & Silver 32GB were sold out. Finally, only 14% of the 64GB of the Black & Slate were sold out at those stores with stock available and just 10% for the 64GB White & Silver.

White survey of New York City launch weekend customers found that white and black models were roughly equally popular, while 53% of customers opted for 16 GB models.