Sharp, LG begin small-volume shipments of iPad Retina displays
Both Sharp and LG recently met Apple's quality standards and began shipping the company small volumes of iPad Retina displays, according to a new report.
Both Sharp and LG Display originally failed to meet Apple's requirements for the new iPad. But those issues were recently resolved, DigiTimes, and shipments to Apple have begun.
Both LG and Sharp are now poised to ramp up shipments in the second quarter of calendar 2012. That's set to coincide with a "significant increase" in new iPad shipments, the report said.
The increase in production will accordingly trickle down to the rest of Apple's supply chain, as backlight unit makers for the Retina display, such as Radiant Opto-Electronics, are also expected to see their revenues grow significantly in the second quarter.
Earlier this week, it was said that Sharp was the first of the two to begin supplying Retina displays for Apple's new iPad. At the time, it was said that LG had yet to meet Apple's standards.
But an earlier report from Reuters claimed that LG was, in fact, already supplying Apple with iPad Retina displays. It made no indication as to whether Sharp had entered the supply chain for the new iPad.
While there's been a considerable amount of confusion as to the roles of LG and Sharp in building Retina displays, reports have consistently confirmed that Samsung has been the primary supplier of high-resolution screens for the new iPad. One report from earlier this month went as far as to say that Samsung was the sole supplier of iPad Retina displays.
Samsung's supply of Retina displays was confirmed last week in a teardown of the new iPad, revealing that the Korean company had built the screen for that particular model. There has been no such evidence of Retina displays from LG or Sharp as of yet.
The new Retina display has been particularly difficult for Apple's partners to manufacture, as it packs in 264 pixels per inch onto the 9.7-inch touchscreen. That gives the new iPad a larger number of pixels than a 1080p high-definition television set.
[ View article on AppleInsider ]
Comments
I'd rather trust Shaw Wu
Digitimes says?
I'd rather trust Shaw Wu
I rather trust my mother than Digitimes.
And heck, I'm not even married!
Perhaps these displays are destined instead for the New MacBook Airs.
1. It's DigiTimes.
2. 9.7" screens for the MacBook Air? I don't think so.
1. It's DigiTimes.
Forget the DigiTimes aspect. There've been numerous leaks over the past year or so of LG and Sharp making advanced displays for Apple.
2. 9.7" screens for the MacBook Air? I don't think so.
Who says they're 9.7"?
Perhaps these displays are destined instead for the New MacBook Airs.
If you sit 5 feet away from your macbook air it is a retina display ;-). How about a 30" retina display iMac. I'd like to see that.
If you sit 5 feet away from your macbook air it is a retina display ;-). How about a 30" retina display iMac. I'd like to see that.
Computer viewing distance typically used by optometrists for calculating prescriptions is 20". That's a little farther than what's considered normal for an iPad. If an MBA had a display roughly the same horizontal pixel as the new iPad, it might qualify as "retina". Less pixels would be needed for a display with 16:9 proportions.
There've been numerous leaks over the past year or so of LG and Sharp making advanced displays for Apple.
Oh, sure, and I'm not necessarily refuting that, I'm just giving my obligatory DigiTimes disclaimer, as they're so completely pathetic that why we give them the time of day is beyond me.
Who says they're 9.7"?
The story says iPad displays. That immediately gives us a size. If they're for the MacBook Air, the story would've been about larger displays. But being completely wrong is what DigiTimes does best; perhaps they measured incorrectly.