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LG produced 4 million units for Apple in August, a number in line with its production levels before the company experienced the issues, DigiTimes reported Friday. Those numbers are expected to be similar for the month of September, the report said citing industry sources.
"LGD's shipments of iPad 2 panels declined significantly to 2.5-2.6 million [units] in July from the previous monthly volume of about four million units due to problems with the backlight units (BLUs), prompting Apple to source more from Samsung Electronics and Chimei Innolux (CMI)," the report said.
While LG worked to fix its issues, Samsung shipped nearly two million panels for the iPad 2 to Apple in July. In that same month, CMI was said to have produced as many as a half-million units.
Total iPad 2 unit shipments are reportedly expected in the supply chain to be between 12 million and 15 million in the third quarter of 2011. That would easily best the record 9.25 million iPads Apple sold last quarter.
After the iPad 2 launched in March, some users reported issues with light leaks and yellowing on the tablet's 9.7-inch display. Some early iPad 2 units showed light leaking onto the screen around its bezel when displaying a dark image, sometimes referred to as a "flashlight effect."
Reports singling out LG's displays as problematic first cropped up in May. The issues prompted the Cupertino, Calif., company to look elsewhere for screens for its hot-selling tablet, landing Samsung four million orders in the first quarter of calendar 2011.
Wesley Hilliard
Charles Martin
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
6 Comments
This is great news for customers.
Just in time for these panels not to be used in the iPad 3.
huh ? Should I ask for replacement now?
huh ? Should I ask for replacement now?
You are within warranty anyhow on the ipad2, so you can if you want. I notice it in a dark room only, so don't feel the need to exchange it - not really an issue with 99% of users, for sure.
Huh ? Should I ask for replacement now?
You are within warranty anyhow on the ipad2, so you can if you want. I notice it in a dark room only, so don't feel the need to exchange it - not really an issue with 99% of users, for sure.
I don't think you should replace it just yet... I just got a replacement iPad2 16GB WiFi White yesterday from an Australian official Apple Store.
The light bleed problem is improved greatly from the unit I replaced, but it is still somewhat noticeable, something that was not an issue in the iPad1 I had. But it's only on one long edge of the screen... It's about 5 spots of light bleed, kinda like the very soft lighting of a dark theatre. Slightly noticeable, but good enough for me. And hey, I got a brand new iPad2 replacement free, so... no complaints for now.
But just be aware, it doesn't mean replacement iPad2s will be all perfect from the date of publication of this AI article, though of course I appreciate AppleInsider updating us all.