Sharp has this morning announced a ¥10.4 billion ($112 million) investment from Samsung that will provide the latter with a 3% stake in the company. It makes Samsung the biggest individual shareholder in the Japanese display maker, and secures its access to Sharp’s LCD panel supplies.

The investment comes at a time when Sharp has been struggling. The company received a $4.4 billion bailout from the banks in October 2012, and its iPad display orders from Apple were recently cut as consumer demand shifted to the smaller iPad mini, which Sharp is not involved with.

Earlier this week, Samsung announced a Garnet Red version of the Galaxy Note 10.1 LTE in South Korea, and it published a number of press shots to show off the new device. It seems that within those press shots, the company may have accidentally revealed the Galaxy Note 8.0 as well.

I say “accidentally” lightly, because I have no doubt that Samsung revealed the device on purpose.

Samsung first unveiled the Galaxy Grand, a dual-SIM smartphone with mid-range specifications, which is aimed mostly at emerging markets, back in December. Just a month later, the company has unveiled another model for its native South Korea, and it comes with a number of significant improvements such as a quad-core processor and 4G LTE connectivity.

Samsung has shipped its 1 millionth Galaxy Note II handset in South Korea, just over three months after the flagship “phablet” made its debut on the electronics giant’s home turf. The news comes just over a month after Samsung announced that the Galaxy Note II had surpassed 5 million channel sales worldwide.

The ongoing patent dispute between Apple and Samsung has resulted in both parties having their products shelved in South Korea — courtesy of a judge’s recent ruling. With a slap on the wrist, the South Korean judge sent both companies on their way and empty handed.