It is a little surprising. Perhaps they got caught off guard a bit by how quickly Google and Amazon got their high-res screens to market. On the other hand, Apple's screen is 43% larger than those of the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HDX, with a similar PPI, so naturally yields would be lower even if the technology is exactly the same.
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Low Retina iPad Mini Production Reportedly Due to Burn-In Issue on Sharp's Display Panels
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It is a little surprising. Perhaps they got caught off guard a bit by how quickly Google and Amazon got their high-res screens to market. On the other hand, Apple's screen is 43% larger than those of the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HDX, with a similar PPI, so naturally yields would be lower even if the technology is exactly the same.
No different than the different screens on the current iPads, iPhones, Macbooks, iMacs, etc. Apple sources from different manufacturers for everything....so you will always have issues. Just like the different SSD modules in the Macbooks....some slower than others.
Different between others and Apple with the displays is....Apple doesn't want to add a lot of thickness and weight.
-Kevin
I believe the original article said it was not visible to the untrained eye, which means some people would notice, and likely also means that eventually it would present issues (burn-in, ghosting, etc.). We already saw the kerfuffle last year with the early Retina MacBook Pros. Apple probably wants to avoid that again, even if it means some lost holiday sales. Besides, I think the iPad Air will sell better than expected. At least some people will walk into stores looking for the iPad mini and will walk out with the iPad Air.
Combine this with the RAM issue with the A7 and its clear, im keeping my iPhone 5 and iPad 4 till the next gens.
This is actually likely to be the final nail in Sharps coffin. The company has been doing very poorly recently. They focused on IGZO and now its been surpassed in efficiency and it still isn't at the quality where they can bring it to mass market.
I don't understand I have an iPad 3 I got on launch day and its been totally fine (other than taking forever to charge and getting a bit hot)
If there was ever a time to pass on a first gen yield it's this one right here. Plus my air is a far better form factor than I ever could have imagined.
I've had an iPad 3 since it launched and I don't know what you're talking about. Besides a little light leakage in one or two places around the edge of the display (only visible at extreme angles), I've had no issues with my display. Ditto the "no issues" part on my iPad Air display.
Then again, I'm not sure I want to know what you're talking about -- if I haven't noticed it, I probably don't want to go looking for it.
Bouncing back and forth between the Mini vs Air... This has now been made simple for me... I'm going to buy an Air this weekend...
This is a hot mess
I noticed how much Apple is trying to get more manufacturing done here on US soil which is a great thing- we need more jobs. But this iPad Mini retina is a hot mess. First of all, having Sharp supply them with the screens wasn't even the best decision in the first place. Sharp is such a crappy brand. Apple needs to manufacture their own parts here in the states where they can control the quality of the product. Come on Apple! Get with it!!!
I noticed how much Apple is trying to get more manufacturing done here on US soil which is a great thing- we need more jobs. But this iPad Mini retina is a hot mess. First of all, having Sharp supply them with the screens wasn't even the best decision in the first place. Sharp is such a crappy brand. Apple needs to manufacture their own parts here in the states where they can control the quality of the product. Come on Apple! Get with it!!!
Apple does not have particularly high standards, they figure what they can get away with, and factor a certain return rate into their margins. Business, pure and simple. If you don't believe that, I have a bridge to sell you...
I hope a lot more people have this same reaction... that will make it easier to get a mini retina when its launched.
It sounds to me as if the reporter got it garbled, confusing "screen burn" (definitely visible to users) vs. burn-in failure, which is a yield problem (and thus invisible to users).
"Burn-in" is just a test stage in electronics manufacturing. Since many failures exhibit themselves early in the product life, "burn-in" attempts to accelerate product aging in order to weed out the lemons. The product is run for a period (could be hours or days) at a simulated accelerated rate of usage, often at an elevated temperature. A "burn-in" problem says nothing about specific failure models; just that the yield is poor. This inevitably means even more testing is called for, rate of production is reduced, and the cost of manufacturing is excessive.
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Is the "burn-in" issue the same as image retention?
IR is temporary but "burn-in" typically means something permanent.
Apple is aware there is a huge demand for these retina iPad Mini, Apple did acknowledge that they will be in short supply... And this news doesn't help that statement at all. I just have a feeling that it's going to be really difficult for them to keep up with the demand... I'd prefer them having to at least be able to have a strong initial supply instead of a weak one...
Producing a few hundred pre-production units during the development cycle can be very different from producing millions, and sometimes these yield issues don't show themselves until you ramp up the production.
One failure out of ten units could just be a bit of bad luck. A million failures out of ten million is indicative of a very serious problem, yet the yield is the same - 90%.
Same thing happened to a lesser extent with the iPhone 5's paint job (QC failures due to scratches), and with its camera module (see Labor Violations article).
Of course, there's always the iPad Air.
What A7 issue? I have an iPad air and the only app I have an issue with is Safari. To me that seems more of an iOS 7 issue than hardware issue.
i.e. the displays are much more expensive to build which explains the higher price tag for the Mini 2.