LEAK: FOXCONN TO BUILD AMAZON'S 10.1 TABLET

Foxconn will build Amazon’s rumored 10.1-inch tablet, DigiTimes reported on Thursday. The Android tablet is expected to ship in 2012 according to the report, but Amazon may want to get the device out the door a bit earlier in order to to have it on store shelves in time for the holiday season. A smaller 7-inch version that was built by Quanta computer is already on its way to Amazon and, while other reports suggested it is a 9-inch tablet, that is likely the model we have heard will launch in late August or September.

Amazon will launch a “Coyote” tablet that packs a dual-core NVIDIA Tegra processor, as well as a larger “Hollywood” tablet powered by the new quad-core Kal-El chip. Since Kal-El devices aren’t shipping to consumers yet, it could be a safe bet to guess that Quanta Computer built the Coyote tablet while Foxconn has scored the order for the more powerful Hollywood device.

APPLE TO ADD SECOND MANUFACTURER TO MEET DEMAND OF NEW iPAD HD

Hot on the heels of reports that claim Apple is gearing up to launch a new iPad model this fall, Digitimes reports that Apple will be adding a second manufacture to augment the tablet’s current manufacturing from Foxconn. Foxconn is currently Apple’s exclusive contractor for iPad 2 production and since the plant’s devastating incident in May and with a new tablet right around the corner, Apple is looking for a second manufacture to build their popular tablets.

According to the report, Apple’s second iPad manufacture will either be Petagron or Quanta Computers. Petagron, notably manufactures the Verizon iPhone and reportedly landed 15 million iPhone 5 orders for a fall release. Quanta manufactures some Macs and other Apple products. With Apple reportedly gearing up to launch a new iPad 2 model, dubbed iPad HD, now is a perfect time for Apple to use more manufacturing power.

The ‘iPad HD’ is expected to be a professional-minded tablet from Apple with a 2048 x 1536 Retina Display. Artwork of this high resolution has already appeared in iOS 5 exclusive SDKframework files and has been a long-rumored feature for the tablet family. This new iPad is pegged at being another iPad model, not the iPad 3.

RUMOR: AMAZON TABLET SHIPPING LATER THIS YEAR

We've got a pretty good inkling that it's coming, the big question is when will Amazon finally ship an LCD tablet. According to DigiTimes, and its occasionally trusty sources at upstream component makers, whenis defined by the second half of 2011.

What's more, the media tablet will feature a Fringe Field Switching LCD display and touch panel from Amazon fave E Ink Holdings, a company better known for the technology behind the Kindle's EPD e-paper displays. According to DigiTimes, Quanta has received the manufacturing honors with production expected to peak at about 700,000 - 800,000 units per month. So yeah, the Amazon Kindle tablet won't be sporting a Mirasol display according to this gossip.