Sam OliverIn an editorial posted Friday by Taiwanese industry publication DigiTimes, Rebecca Kuo said that component makers in Taiwan and China are attempting to catch up with Korea, which is the leader in AMOLED displays. Though suppliers are increasing their production, she said it still isn't enough for Apple.
"With backlight unit (BLU) makers set to be suppliers for the second generation of iPad, AMOLED will still be unable to enter Apple's supply chain," she said. "Panel makers have noted that a major reason for Apple to overlook AMOLED for iPads is insufficient supplies."
Korea-based Samsung Mobile Display currently creates AMOLED panels between 2 inches and 4.2 inches, but its capacity is allegedly not enough to meet demand for the Samsung Galaxy S, Google Nexus S, or other phones from Nokia and HTC.
"Moreover, the current AMOLED technology is not suitable for volume production of 7- to 11-inch tablet PC panels, and the mass production cost will not be able to compete with TFT-LCD panels," Kuo wrote.
The details come just after the same publication claimed that an LCD backlight supplier has been selected for Apple's second-generation iPad expected to debut in the first quarter of 2011. DigiTimes has claimed that Apple experimented with an AMOLED display for the iPhone, but ultimately rejected the hardware because it was less suitable for displaying text, and because of display issues.
Rumors of an iPad with an AMOLED display, mostly perpetuated by DigiTimes itself, were repeated for months. The site also incorrectly reported in Nov. 2009 that Apple's not-yet-announced iPad would have an OLED display that would cost about $2,000 at retail.
Mike Wuerthele
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Malcolm Owen
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29 Comments
Hooray for a statement about a rumor that was never going to happen in the first place!
Hooray for a statement about a rumor that was never going to happen in the first place!
Indeed. What a waste of space this article is. The article it's based on is obviously just a puff-piece in itself.
Why would Apple even be considering using AMOLED displays, in what is arguably it's flagship product, when they've spent the last few years telling everyone what sh*t the technology is and when they are currently using top of the line IPS panels in *all* their products? The panels they are using now are demonstrably cheaper, brighter, more readable, and have more accurate colour than AMOLED.
Hooray for a statement about a rumor that was never going to happen in the first place!
In other news, Apple decides to pass on Android as the OS on the next-gen iPad!
Hooray for a statement about a rumor that was never going to happen in the first place!
Seriously! These rumours should all blame it on the Verizon iPhone just to round everything out.
Makes just as much sense as this article’s rumour.
Anybody have a good, recent link re active-matrix organic LEDs? I've seen some, but years ago. I'd like to see what the state-of-the-art is, and why (or if?) it's actually desirable to put one in an iPad (someday).