Improvements to the iPad's LED backlighting will allow Apple to create a thinner iPad 5, NPD DisplaySearch's Paul Semenza told CNET . "It's likely that part of the thinner/lighter design will be reducing the size of the LED backlight, partly by making the display more efficient and partly by using more efficient LEDs," said Paul Semenza, an analyst at NPD DisplaySearch, in an e-mail to CNET. The Retina displays of the third and fourth generation iPads required a dual-LED backlight along with a bigger battery, which caused them to be thicker than the previous iPad 2

Wired is reporting that Apple has agreed to pay $53 million to settle a class action lawsuit, which originated in 2010, that accuses them of failing to honor warranties on certain models of iPhones or iPod Touches.

A job listing posted by Apple earlier this month indicates the company is indeed looking at using flexible displays in future products, along with high optical efficiency LCD and AMOLED units.

M.I.C. Gadget reports that Apple has been hit with a new lawsuit in China, with the state-owned Shanghai Animation Film Studio claiming that Apple has permitted sales of its movies without authorization. Given that Apple does not directly sell audio or video content through the iTunes Store in China, it appears that the issue relates to the films being made available through third-party App Store apps

Digitimes is reporting that Apple is set to cut shipments of iPad mini in the second quarter of 2013, according to its industry sources. The cut is said to be a 20% reduction for the month of April, with steeper cuts potentially following in the remainder of the quarter, although the report does not specify whether the cuts are relative to previous production plans or to current-quarter output. Apple has reportedly cut its shipments of the iPad mini to between 10-12 million units for the second quarter of 2013, according to industry sources.

Following recent meetings with Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty today issued a research note sharing some of her takeaways from those discussions and her views on Apple's future plans. While she did not disclose any specific information shared by Oppenheimer, Huberty did come away feeling that Apple will be working hard to expand carrier partnerships and distribution for the iPhone to drive growth in Apple's largest segment.

There have been a growing number of reports that Apple is working on a larger form factor iPhone, presumably to better compete with the wide variety of Android devices currently available. Based on those rumors, there have been also been a number of speculative articles on exactly how Apple might adapt iOS to handle the increase in screen size

As noted by 9to5Mac , the Mac Pro is no longer available for purchase from Apple's European Online Stores.

3.5" iPhone, 3.5" iPhone 4, 4" iPhone 5, and (mockup) 5" iPhone by iMore Brightwire translates a report from the Chinese media which claims that Apple will be launching both an iPhone 5S and a 5" iPhone 6 this year: - A source told Chinese mobile phone information site Laoyaoba.com that he has seen the iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 at Apple's suppliers. Both models may be released in 2013, according to the website's microblog on Thursday evening

Microsoft today announced that its Surface Pro tablet will go on sale on February 9 in the United States and Canada. Originally slated to arrive in January , the Surface Pro tablet is priced at $899 for the 64GB model and $999 for the 128GB model. The Surface Pro sports an Intel Core i5 processor with Intel HD Graphics 4000, 4GB of RAM, and a more robust battery