Samsung is sole supplier of Apple's iPad Retina displays - report

Posted:
in iPad edited January 2014


LG and Sharp failed to meet Apple's quality standards, leaving Samsung as the sole supplier of Retina displays for the new iPad, according to a new report.



Citing an analyst at iSuppli, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that Samsung is the only company building touchscreen high-resolution displays for Apple's third-generation iPad. LG Display and Sharp were said to be in the mix, but didn't live up to Apple's quality requirements.



"The display specifications on the new iPad are very demanding in terms of the very high resolution," iSuppli's Vinita Jakhanwal said. "Achieving this high resolution without compromising on the power consumption and brightness and maintaining Apple's quality standards are supposedly proving to be a challenge for LG Display and Sharp."



Apple's continued reliance on Samsung for components stands in contrast to a legal showdown between the two companies, which both sell smartphones, tablets and computers. The two companies have filed more than 30 lawsuits against one another across the globe, and the legal showdown now spans 10 countries.



As for LG and Sharp, both companies have been linked to Apple before for the supply of iPad displays. Sharp was originally said to be pushing for the third-generation iPad to feature its IGZO technology, but it was said in January that the company's IGZO displays failed to meet Apple's standards.



Last week, the NPD Group's DisplaySearch indicated that all three companies — Samsung, Sharp and LG — were experiencing difficulty in manufacturing Retina displays for Apple's third-generation iPad. However, it did not indicate that Sharp and LG were outright unable to supply any components to Apple.



The new display uses advanced technology such as Super High Aperture pixel design to achieve a pixel density of 264-per-inch. That's a higher resolution display than a 1080p high-definition television.











Even if Samsung is the only provider of iPad Retina displays to Apple, it may not have a significant impact on Apple's ability to manufacture third-generation iPads. A separate report on Tuesday from analyst Peter Misek with Jefferies said concerns that Retina display availability could be constrained for Apple are "overblown.



Misek sees Apple building between 12 million and 15 million iPads in the first quarter of calendar 2012, with production growing to as high as 20 million next quarter.



[ View article on AppleInsider ]

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 160
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Awkward...
  • Reply 2 of 160
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Note that supplier means manufacturer, not the inventor or creator of the display panel. There role as supplier is much like Foxconn is to building iPhone... though considerably more automated.
  • Reply 3 of 160
    haggarhaggar Posts: 1,568member
    Who designed these display panels, Apple or Samsung? Does Apple have the exclusive rights to use these panels?
  • Reply 4 of 160
    umrk_labumrk_lab Posts: 550member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Haggar View Post


    Who designed these display panels, Apple or Samsung? Does Apple have the exclusive rights to use these panels?



    Good questions for a forthcoming legal dispute ??? ... one more ...
  • Reply 5 of 160
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Haggar View Post


    Who designed these display panels, Apple or Samsung? Does Apple have the exclusive rights to use these panels?



    LG likely designed the panels with Apple's backing. Apple likely has exclusive rights as the 326 PPI IPS panels used in the iPhone 4 finally appeared in an LG phone in January 2012, so that was about an 18 month exclusivity.
  • Reply 6 of 160
    nairbnairb Posts: 253member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    Awkward...



    Why?



    Apple and Samsumg are big boys. Samsung wont say not to their biggest customer and Apple wont comprimise on quality.



    Neither will let their patent battles get in the way of doing buisiness.
  • Reply 7 of 160
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post


    Note that supplier means manufacturer, not the inventor or creator of the display panel. There role as supplier is much like Foxconn is to building iPhone... though considerably more automated.



    My question is this: Was the Retina display engineered by Apple (in other words, do they own the intellectual property to back up the product) or by Samsung?
  • Reply 8 of 160
    tooltalktooltalk Posts: 766member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post


    Note that supplier means manufacturer, not the inventor or creator of the display panel. There role as supplier is much like Foxconn is to building iPhone... though considerably more automated.



    Not sure what your point is.. Apple hasn't invented / created anything either. Apple is a marketing / product integration company.
  • Reply 9 of 160
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    My question is this: Was the Retina display engineered by Apple (in other words, do they own the intellectual property to back up the product) or by Samsung?



    We won't know until a retina display shows up on a Samsung device and no one sues.
  • Reply 10 of 160
    This means a reverse-engineered Samsung Galaxy Tab S II SuperbX HD will be out within a few months...
  • Reply 11 of 160
    tooltalktooltalk Posts: 766member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Haggar View Post


    Who designed these display panels, Apple or Samsung? Does Apple have the exclusive rights to use these panels?



    I believe it's Sharp, but Sharp & LG reportedly had difficulty manufacturing the display panels in volume.



    http://www.reghardware.com/2012/03/1...aperture_tech/



    Well, at least we now know where Apple would be without Samsung's flash, cpu, or display.
  • Reply 12 of 160
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tooltalk View Post


    Not sure what your point is.. Apple hasn't invented anything either. Apple is a marketing company.



    I am not sure you know what you're talking about.



    A bit odd for a guy commenting that he's "Not sure what [a poster's] point is."
  • Reply 13 of 160
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    My question is this: Was the Retina display engineered by Apple (in other words, do they own the intellectual property to back up the product) or by Samsung?



    Thinking about how they like to advertise when they are responsible for the IP plus no display patent tech, that I can recall, makes me think they are probably just investors in their displays getting made years before it would otherwise be possible. The reward for pushing this tech seems to be an exclusivity.



    But that doesn't mean Samsung is behind it. Based on what I've seen Samsung has little interst in developing LCDs. This seems like LG's tech to me. So why is it possible Samsung could be building LG tech requested by Apple? simple: LG doesn't have the quality for the needed scale. This is a completely different area of business and one where Samsung excels. Just compare their Android phones with other Android vendors.
  • Reply 14 of 160
    tooltalktooltalk Posts: 766member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    I am not sure you know what you're talking about.



    A bit odd for a guy commenting that he's "Not sure what [a poster's] point is."



    Really? And you do?
  • Reply 15 of 160
    nairbnairb Posts: 253member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Haggar View Post


    Who designed these display panels, Apple or Samsung? Does Apple have the exclusive rights to use these panels?



    THese panels are only improvements on previous panels. We now all big panel makers do a lot of research in this area. I would say there is a large number of cross licenced patents between the big manufacturers. Apple probably have a few of their own.



    I have heard that Samsung are building a 11.6 inch screen with similar pixel density as iPad 3 for thier next tablet. At the moment it is just rumours though.
  • Reply 16 of 160
    mauszmausz Posts: 243member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tooltalk View Post


    I believe it's Sharp, but Sharp & LG reportedly had difficulty manufacturing the display panels in volume.



    Well, at least we now know where Apple would be without Samsung.



    Sharp offered IGZO technology, but could not meet the demands of apple. The current panels do not seem to be IGZO, so it must be Samsung or LG.

    As IGZO technology would deliver the same image but without additional backlights, I would think apple would have preferred it.

    Putting these two together, I think it's Samsung tech. Why let Samsung build panels with LG tech, you would have asked Samsung to build IGZO. All speculation of course, maybe IGZO wasn't ready for prime-time at all.
  • Reply 17 of 160
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post


    LG likely designed the panels with Apple's backing. Apple likely has exclusive rights as the 326 PPI IPS panels used in the iPhone 4 finally appeared in an LG phone in January 2012, so that was about an 18 month exclusivity.



    I don't recall ever seeing a story about Apple engineering their own displays. I'd personally think it more likely that Apple put out a set of specs they wanted matched and took bids on who could meet the requirements. Just a guess of course in the absence of any evidence that it was Apple who did the design work rather than a display manufacturer. Always a possibility Apple did the screen engineering or some significant part of it.
  • Reply 18 of 160
    postulantpostulant Posts: 1,272member
    I don't care who the supplier is... And I take all these rumors with a grain of salt. Next week there will be another report with Emerson as the supplier.
  • Reply 19 of 160
    peter236peter236 Posts: 254member
    Apple just does not have the technology of many of the parts that go into its products, e.g displays, flash, batteries etc. Apple products just put together a bunch of parts from other manufacturers.
  • Reply 20 of 160
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post


    I don't recall ever seeing a story about Apple engineering their own displays. I'd personally think it more likely that Apple put out a set of specs they wanted matched and took bids on who could meet the requirements. Just a guess of course in the absence of any evidence that it was Apple who did the design work rather than a display manufacturer. Always a possibility Apple did the screen engineering or some significant part of it.



    No where in my post did I state or imply Apple's IP is responsible for the displays. My comment starts out with "LG likely designed the panels..." Then I mention exclusivity which means a deal which further solidifies my comment that Apple didn't own engineer the displays, not to mention my comment of Apple backing LG.
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