'iPad Pro' parts shipments starting in Sept. with new display tech & suppliers - report

Posted:
in iPad edited September 2015
Parts shipments for a 12.9-inch "iPad Pro" will likely begin in September, resulting in production of about 1 million units per month this year -- but with new touchscreen technology and suppliers, according to a J.P. Morgan investor memo.




In order to improve input accuracy, the jumbo-sized iPad will likely use a "glass-film-film" (GFF) touch panel structure rather than the glass-film in the iPad Air and mini, J.P. Morgan's analysts said, citing supply chain visits. That could be consistent with claims that the tablet will support a Bluetooth stylus, for which accuracy would be paramount.

Financially GFF would benefit Nitto Denko, which is already the lone film supplier for current iPad models. For the "iPad Pro" display and touch panels though Apple is allegedly handing most of the initial orders over to Sharp and GIS, respectively, instead of LG Display and TPK. The latter two companies may still be involved, but in a smaller capacity.

Apple is also, for the first time, reportedly consigning display panels to touch panel makers for the touch/display optical lamination phase -- putting touch, display, and assembly under "megasites" controlled by Hon Hai, better known as Foxconn. That would back a similar rumor from DigiTimes.

The other main suppliers are thought to be Nissha Printing and Radiant, the latter of which will handle LED backlights.

Apple is commonly expected to reveal an "iPad Pro" sometime in October, and ship it shortly thereafter. Aside from new touch technology, the tablet could have a 2,048-pixel-by-2,732-pixel display, and a unique version of iOS 9 with an expanded keyboard.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 57
    inklinginkling Posts: 768member
    Ah yes, Apple like most of the high-tech industry in Silicon Valley, is funding the development of extremely sophisticated manufacturing in Asia%u2014here these new screens. As for us, judging by their at-home investments, Apple's corporate executives view most of us as like the child-like Eloi of H. G. Wells The Time Machine. Not bright enough to do anything sophisticated, only endless entertainment interests us. That's why so many Apple commercials show adults dancing around like children in preschool.
  • Reply 2 of 57
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    How long before we get an article about delays?
  • Reply 3 of 57
    bsenkabsenka Posts: 799member
    The fact that so many of the rumours have the stylus being bluetooth has me worried. A proper pressure sensitive stylus does not need to be paired or charged.
  • Reply 4 of 57
    What? You must be referring to the hideous Microsoft Surface ads where young hip types dance on tables and make the Surface click.
  • Reply 5 of 57
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    inkling wrote: »
    Ah yes, Apple like most of the high-tech industry in Silicon Valley, is funding the development of extremely sophisticated manufacturing in Asia%u2014here these new screens. As for us, judging by their at-home investments, Apple's corporate executives view most of us as like the child-like Eloi of H. G. Wells The Time Machine. Not bright enough to do anything sophisticated, only endless entertainment interests us. That's why so many Apple commercials show adults dancing around like children in preschool.

    Apple could certainly use a little balance in their manufacturing systems and component sources. My problem with Apple as an investor is that so much of their product line is in China that one little international "incident" could easily destroy the company. Seriously what would happen to Apple if they couldn't ship anything from China for a week or month much less years. I just don't see them being able to recover quickly enough to avoid significant damage to the company.

    I kinda like that focus is being put on China in the current political debate. The problem is will everything be forgotten after the election?
  • Reply 6 of 57
    inkling wrote: »
    Ah yes, Apple like most of the high-tech industry in Silicon Valley, is funding the development of extremely sophisticated manufacturing in Asia%u2014here these new screens.

    Apple invests where their money is. When the USA government finally allows Apple to bring the money home without taxing it again, they will invest it here more then elsewhere,
    As for us, judging by their at-home investments, Apple's corporate executives view most of us as like the child-like Eloi of H. G. Wells The Time Machine. Not bright enough to do anything sophisticated, only endless entertainment interests us. That's why so many Apple commercials show adults dancing around like children in preschool.

    So, you make a false assumption to come to even a worse conclusion.

    By the way, it's not Apple commercials that show adults dancing around like children; Microsoft holds that distinction with their early Surface commercials.
  • Reply 7 of 57
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    solipsismy wrote: »
    How long before we get an article about delays?

    Well there are 12 hours left in this day ( for me at least)

    Articles about delays are nonsense anyways. Brand new production line startups are always a challenge no matter who you are.
  • Reply 8 of 57
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    bsenka wrote: »
    The fact that so many of the rumours have the stylus being bluetooth has me worried. A proper pressure sensitive stylus does not need to be paired or charged.

    That is an opinion and frankly biased by what you currently know about contemporary solutions. We don't know what is being put into the stylus technology wise nor what advantages that might give Apple. I'd wait until Apple actually ships something before I'd pass judgement.
  • Reply 9 of 57
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    bsenka wrote: »
    The fact that so many of the rumours have the stylus being bluetooth has me worried. A proper pressure sensitive stylus does not need to be paired or charged.

    Can you go into detail about that? On the old Wacom pads had a touch-sensitive surface but they a huge border and could make the sensitivity perfect everywhere on the pad. I'm not sure how you do that with an iPad with all the other components for a capacitance display built in.
  • Reply 10 of 57

    Bring it on!

  • Reply 11 of 57
    bsenka wrote: »
    The fact that so many of the rumours have the stylus being bluetooth has me worried. A proper pressure sensitive stylus does not need to be paired or charged.

    Looking ahead, if this tablet is adopted in enterprise or education, there could be a high enough density of users that your non-paired stylus could be writing on my tablet accidently. A good Apple product needs to address all possible situations, not just those you can imagine.

    Also, the current bluetooth spec, adopted by Apple, is highly energy efficient, not like a year or two ago.
  • Reply 12 of 57
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    Apple invests where their money is. When the USA government finally allows Apple to bring the money home without taxing it again, they will invest it here more then elsewhere,
    The tax argument is non sense, the reason Apple is in China is because it is so damn cheap to manufacture there.
    So, you make a false assumption to come to even a worse conclusion.

    By the way, it's not Apple commercials that show adults dancing around like children; Microsoft holds that distinction with their early Surface commercials. Now, crawl back under your rock.
    Obviously you haven't watched recent commercials. The comments reflect what the commercials are targeting, basically the mindless masses!
  • Reply 13 of 57
    solipsismy wrote: »

    On the old Wacom pads had a touch-sensitive surface but they a huge border and could make the sensitivity perfect everywhere on the pad. I'm not sure how you do that with an iPad with all the other components for a capacitance display built in.

    Read the article again, Apple is rumored to be changing the touch-sensitive surface for greater accuracy...
  • Reply 14 of 57
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bsenka View Post



    The fact that so many of the rumours have the stylus being bluetooth has me worried. A proper pressure sensitive stylus does not need to be paired or charged.

    Agree,  I still miss the pen of the Newton. Bluetooth, here, just mean more battery, more software, more parts that could render the pen less reliable. 

  • Reply 15 of 57
    bsenkabsenka Posts: 799member
    solipsismy wrote: »
    Can you go into detail about that? On the old Wacom pads had a touch-sensitive surface but they a huge border and could make the sensitivity perfect everywhere on the pad. I'm not sure how you do that with an iPad with all the other components for a capacitance display built in.

    Wacom makes a 13" portable Cintiq device that has both a stylus and touch sensitivity. It does have a bit of a bezel, but not much. Even the regular Wacom tablets have touch as well.
    Looking ahead, if this tablet is adopted in enterprise or education, there could be a high enough density of users that your non-paired stylus could be writing on my tablet accidently. A good Apple product needs to address all possible situations, not just those you can imagine.

    I've worked in a large studio with 30-40 people in one room using Wacom tablets at the same time -- that simply never happens.
  • Reply 16 of 57
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    Read the article again, Apple is rumored to be changing the touch-sensitive surface for greater accuracy...

    That's a requirement if you are going to use a device with considerably more precise axis points, but try to accurately register pressure from the center of a sheet of glass and other components to the edges probably needs that to be in the pen itself if you want it to be consistently precise. Or, they have figured out how to accurately make the digitizer react to the same pressure from a stylus anywhere on the alkali-aluminosilicate sheet glass, but have included buttons on the stylus (as well as code for their stylus and 3rd-party options) to alter various aspects of the UI, which can include color and texture palettes, brush types, and pretty much anything else that you want to alter quickly with a click. Regardless, there are legitimate reasons for a stylus to support BT.
  • Reply 17 of 57
    19831983 Posts: 1,225member
    Glass-Film, Glass-Film-Film. What's the difference?
  • Reply 18 of 57

    Two things seem obvious:

     

    A. That Apple wouldn't be interested in simply cloning the exact same touch sensitivity approach that Wacom uses.

     

    B. That there's always the possibility that Wacom's touch sensitivity approach could be improved upon.

     

    That said, it's not guaranteed that Apple is really trying to beat Wacom's high end products that are specific to artists. It may be more oriented towards improving the experience for a wide range of uses, including art.

  • Reply 19 of 57
    wizard69 wrote: »
    Apple invests where their money is. When the USA government finally allows Apple to bring the money home without taxing it again, they will invest it here more then elsewhere,
    The tax argument is non sense, the reason Apple is in China is because it is so damn cheap to manufacture there.

    Agreed. Apple goes where labor is cheap. They are also where the tax on their investments gives them the biggest bang for the buck! Finally, China has such a huge trained labor pool. WHen Foxxcon needs 10,000 extra industrial engineers, they can hire them AND have them on site in 10 days. In the USA that would involve months to do... even years. This country has a labor pool a couple of orders of magnitude smaller than China... It's hard to even imagine the difference.

    I think this last point is useful to Apple's ability to quickly bring new products, using latest technology, and extremely high production, to consumers, like no other company in the world. Having once worked in a similar electronic industry in the USA, I'm always in awe at how Apple/Foxxcon does it. When Tim pulls the trigger to start production, the coordinated flow of parts manufactured all over the globe to assembly in China, is just amazing!

    As a side note, you can see how differently things went when Apple relied on one USA company to make sapphire iPhone screens a couple years back. Apple was lied to and manipulated by that company's management, yet Tim adjusted suppliers and shipped the new iPhones on time... using another USA supplier of glass.
  • Reply 20 of 57
    Oh, those wacky analysts... Post pictures or it never happened.
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