Kasper JadeAccording to Taiwanese market sources, Samsung electronics will join LG Display as a supplier of the iPads LCD panels next month, with estimated monthly shipments expected to fall in the range of 300,000 to 500,000 per month.
The move comes amid a sharp uptick in iPad sales over the past 60 days that coincided with Apple's international launch of the device, which began ramping last month and broadened availability into Europe and parts of Asia.
The Cupertino-based company is now producing 1.2 million iPads each month, up from 800,000-900,000 units in May, 700,000 units in April, 470,000 units in March, and 300,000 in February.
Researchers for DigiTimes believe iPad sales may further increase twofold to 2.5 million units per month by the time the holidays roll around. By then, Apple will have released iOS 4 for iPad, delivering features such as multi-tasking and a unified mailbox.
It's estimated that Apple pays between $80 and $90 to its suppliers for each of the iPad's 9.7-inch display panels.
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
60 Comments
It will be an epic fail ... oh wait a minute!
This was obvious in January.
The Cupertino-based company is now shipping 1.2 million iPads each month, up from 800,000-900,000 units in May, 700,000 units in April, 470,000 units in March, and 300,000 in February.
Oh, really? Producing maybe, but not shipping as in 'shipping to customers'.
Edit: Ok, people have trouble understanding my subtle high-lighting of the February and March number. My 'Oh, really?' ONLY refers to numbers for February and March. The report literally claimed that Apple was shipping 300 000 iPads in February. But they obviously did not ship them to customers in February as the iPad went only on sale 1 April. Any numbers for February can only refer to production, not sales.
Just shows customers don't care if they purchase a semi-obsolete (retina? 512MB? cameras?) product.
...and they would sell EVEN MORE if they would just put a front facing camera on the iPad. They'd double sales of the predicted double sales....