Status of display suppliers for new iPad

EL SEGUNDO, USA: The iSuppli Displays Materials & Systems Service at IHS is issuing a news flash clarifying its views on the status of suppliers of displays for the new iPad.

One week ago, on March 7, IHS issued a press release indicating that we believe Apple likely has qualified three sources for the display in the new iPad: Samsung, LG Display (LGD) and Sharp (Apple Display Spending Expected to Nearly Double in 2012, Helped by Surging iPad Sales). IHS has not changed this view.

The three suppliers have been working hard to reach mass-volume production to meet demand from the launch of the new iPad. However, IHS believes it is likely that the volume shipments of the new iPad display are currently coming from Samsung.

Although they are currently shipping displays in small quantities, LGD and Sharp are expected to ramp up volume production of new iPad displays in April. IHS predicts that Apple is likely to begin shipping new iPads with displays from these suppliers in the second quarter.

Sharp is working with a new IGZO technology that enables higher resolutions. The company now is working to ramp up the production of IGZO TFT panels at its Gen 8 fab in Kameyama, Japan, but the company is experiencing manufacturing problems that could affect both the availability of displays for a full rollout of the new iPad, as well as the cost of the iPad displays.

LGD has been pioneering the use of advanced in-plane switching (IPS) display technology, particularly in media tablet displays. The company is the leader of the media tablet display market, with a 44 percent share of global unit shipments for full year 2011. Samsung, in comparison, accounted for 35 percent share of the tablet display segment, with Taiwanese and Chinese display suppliers making up the remainder of the market share.

Source: IHS iSuppli, USA.