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LG reportedly ramping up iPad display panel manufacturing to meet demand surge

LG is reportedly ramping up display production to meet a surge in iPad and laptop demand.

Apple has reportedly asked LG Display to quickly ramp up iPad LCD panels shipments to meet a surge in demand in Asia following the outbreak of COVID-19.

A recent uptick in demand for tablets and the wake of the coronavirus outbreak has spawned a large-scale order for iPad screens. Specifically, an increase in work-from-home and remote education policies in Asia are said to be the main drivers behind the request.

A report by Business Korea on Friday morning claims that LG will operate its product lines at full capacity to deliver the iPad LCD panels as early as June. Apple had originally cut orders following expectations of reduced demand during the global health crisis.

Although the request is described as "unusual" since Apple typically gives at least three months' notice to ramp up production, LG and other suppliers do respond to prompt surges and dips in demand frequently. A supply chain insider said that LG must move quickly, however, to stay ahead of rivals like BOE in China and Sharp in Japan.

LG has also been tapped by Apple to supply 6.1-inch display panels for the upcoming "iPhone 12" lineup. On Wednesday, a separate report indicated that LG was slated to manufacture up to 20 million OLED displays for Apple's 2020 flagship iPhones.



4 Comments

viclauyyc 10 Years · 847 comments

Anyone know why Apple don’t use Japan Display as iPad screen supplier? Seems they have tons of production capacity that is not use.

GeorgeBMac 8 Years · 11421 comments

My feeling is that education around the world will never go completely back to its roots of rows of desks crowded into a room facing some sort of blackboard as a teacher drones on....   But neither will that go completely away either.   Rather, we will see increasing mixture of remote, computerized learning with traditional classroom learning.
Part of that is due to health concerns related to the latest pandemic.  Many predict students will get 2 days in the classroom and 3 at home this fall.
But mostly it is due to the fact that you simply can't put that genie back into its bottle.   A new wave has been unleashed.

While I do not see any rush for schools to buy MacBooks (too expensive and they don't offer anything over far cheaper options), we may see increased student purchases of MacBooks for their own use.

It is the iPad that will (hopefully) benefit.   It is cheap.   It is versatile as it can function either in tablet mode or in laptop mode and so it has a distinct functional advantage over strictly tablet or laptop investments.  Plus, since most remote learning tools are web based, a school can assign an iPad to the school's Apple ID while allowing a student to sign on to their own remote learning ID (say to Google Classroom or Kahn Academy).

Here's hoping that Apple steps up and takes advantage of this opportunity to expand its base and start students off right.   Its a Win-Win.

mcdave 19 Years · 1927 comments

My feeling is that education around the world will never go completely back to its roots of rows of desks crowded into a room facing some sort of blackboard as a teacher drones on....   But neither will that go completely away either.   Rather, we will see increasing mixture of remote, computerized learning with traditional classroom learning.

Part of that is due to health concerns related to the latest pandemic.  Many predict students will get 2 days in the classroom and 3 at home this fall.
But mostly it is due to the fact that you simply can't put that genie back into its bottle.   A new wave has been unleashed.

While I do not see any rush for schools to buy MacBooks (too expensive and they don't offer anything over far cheaper options), we may see increased student purchases of MacBooks for their own use.

It is the iPad that will (hopefully) benefit.   It is cheap.   It is versatile as it can function either in tablet mode or in laptop mode and so it has a distinct functional advantage over strictly tablet or laptop investments.  Plus, since most remote learning tools are web based, a school can assign an iPad to the school's Apple ID while allowing a student to sign on to their own remote learning ID (say to Google Classroom or Kahn Academy).

Here's hoping that Apple steps up and takes advantage of this opportunity to expand its base and start students off right.   Its a Win-Win.

I thought that a few weeks ago, that COVID would change the way we work and learn. Our kids have been back in classrooms for the last two weeks and distance learning has just been closed down. We are back at work full time as of next week; business as, tragically, usual.
I’m not saying everywhere will be the same as us in New Zealand but it’s all a bit disappointing & a missed opportunity.

GeorgeBMac 8 Years · 11421 comments

mcdave said:
My feeling is that education around the world will never go completely back to its roots of rows of desks crowded into a room facing some sort of blackboard as a teacher drones on....   But neither will that go completely away either.   Rather, we will see increasing mixture of remote, computerized learning with traditional classroom learning.

Part of that is due to health concerns related to the latest pandemic.  Many predict students will get 2 days in the classroom and 3 at home this fall.
But mostly it is due to the fact that you simply can't put that genie back into its bottle.   A new wave has been unleashed.

While I do not see any rush for schools to buy MacBooks (too expensive and they don't offer anything over far cheaper options), we may see increased student purchases of MacBooks for their own use.

It is the iPad that will (hopefully) benefit.   It is cheap.   It is versatile as it can function either in tablet mode or in laptop mode and so it has a distinct functional advantage over strictly tablet or laptop investments.  Plus, since most remote learning tools are web based, a school can assign an iPad to the school's Apple ID while allowing a student to sign on to their own remote learning ID (say to Google Classroom or Kahn Academy).

Here's hoping that Apple steps up and takes advantage of this opportunity to expand its base and start students off right.   Its a Win-Win.
I thought that a few weeks ago, that COVID would change the way we work and learn. Our kids have been back in classrooms for the last two weeks and distance learning has just been closed down. We are back at work full time as of next week; business as, tragically, usual.
I’m not saying everywhere will be the same as us in New Zealand but it’s all a bit disappointing & a missed opportunity.

Yeh, perhaps that should not be surprising....
Both education and healthcare are deeply entrenched in their status quo and resistant to change -- largely because they are dominated by experts and professionals who not only know of only one way of doing things but are deeply invested in continuing to do them that way.  A big part of that are the immense sums of money sloshing around in the system.

Healthcare, at least in the U.S. is, perhaps, more likely to change because:  while its for-profit foundation has created immense harm to the American people, it may also leap at the chance of increased profit through lowered costs of tele-medicine -- particularly as it can break the back of regional monopolies by opening the doors to national organizations providing healthcare across state lines from low cost centralized organizations (even if the actual workers are working from home!).  All it will take is for government to stop protecting the status quo of regional health care monopolies and cartels and that nut will be cracked wide open.

And, eventually, the same may happen in education.  But that has a government base (local school administrators, teachers unions and school boards) who will fight it tooth and nail while they try to maintain localized control.

But, eventually, it is inevitable that the current paradigms will be washed away by cheaper, more efficient and more effective ways of providing both health care and education.  Corona virus opened that door.  But, as you point out, it may have been only opened by a tiny crack where people have seen that there is another way.