Amazon confirms acquisition of Samsung's Liquavista display unit

A major Kindle upgrade could be in the works as Amazon has reportedly made a notable new acquisition.

After months of speculation, Amazon is said to be acquiring Liquavista, a Dutch subsidiary of Samsung.

Liquavista works on producing screens that can handle "all lighting conditions" for mobile devices such as e-readers, smartphones, GPS devices, portable media players and cameras.

Touting a "simplified LCD-like manufacturing process," Liquavista specializes in Electrowetting technology, which the Netherlands-based company explained on its website is more ideal for video content.

The Digital Reader reported on Monday that it had "confirmed" with the Seattle-based tech giant that it would be working with Liquavista to develop new displays.

If accurate, the new unit must be intended to be integrated within Amazon's ever-growing mobile device business.

Amazon's last major refresh of the Kindle brand, both for its electronic ink e-readers and colorized Kindle Fire tablets, was last September.

We pinged Amazon for comment, and we will update this story when we hear back.

UPDATE: Amazon confirmed via email and provided the following statement:

We are always looking for new technologies we may be able to incorporate into our products over the long term. The Liquavista team shares our passion for invention and is creating exciting new technologies with a lot of potential. It’s still early days, but we’re excited about the possibilities and we look forward to working with Liquavista to develop these displays.