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More Confirmation of Sharp Supplying iPad 3 Displays

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Apr 12, 2001
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The Wall Street Journal offers their own sources that confirm that Apple will be using Sharp as a source of display parts for the upcoming iPad 3.
Apple Inc. is adding Sharp Corp. as a maker of screens used in the next-generation iPad, people familiar with the situation said Thursday, as the U.S. consumer electronics company moves to diversify component suppliers for its products.
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According to their source, Apple is also investing in Sharp's panel manufacturing factories in Japan to ensure it can get enough supplies for its iOS devices.

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Sharp already supplies iPhone panels and is also said to be supplying panels for the next iPhone which is also due next year.

Sharp has been mentioned a number of times by various rumors as a new source of iPad screens for Apple. A recent analyst report said that production of iPad 3 screens was already underway and included Samsung, LG and Sharp.

Then, just on Wednesday, another analyst reported that Sharp may actually be supplying Apple with specially designed screens for the iPad 3. According to that report, Apple and Sharp have developed a new technology to allow a thinner high resolution display for the next iPad. Finally, Sharp may also be involved in Apple's television set plans, also supplying parts for that project as well.

Article Link: More Confirmation of Sharp Supplying iPad 3 Displays
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/11/25/more-confirmation-of-sharp-supplying-ipad-3-displays/
I'd be worried if Sharp builds iPad screens with the same quality control as their TV's. Been though 4 different Sharp Quattron tv's in 1 year and they all had problems....cloudy screens, dead pixels, fried boards, etc.
 
Sharp is world class at this.

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Edit: Ha! I got -3 votes on this. I've been to their factory. You?
 
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Year of the Hardware?

I'd just love to see a retina display in the iPad 3. Hopefully, with at least the same graphics performance as the iPad 2 and a quad core processor to make it future proof. This would make me upgrade from my first generation iPad. :)

I mean, the display will be awesome. Imagine looking at some 5 or 8 megapixel photos on your iPad with a resolution of 2048*1536: they will just look gorgeous just like on the iPhone 4. I also hope they will at least double the RAM, because it's going to need some RAM with such a high resolution and all these apps running in the background.

Furthermore, I hope Apple will 'move up' the storage. Give customers a $399 iPad 2 16 GB model as a 'budget-model'. And give us a $499 32 GB, $599 64 GB and $699 128 GB model. A retina display is screaming for bigger apps, bigger photos (for more detail) and Full HD videos!

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I also hope the next (sixth) generation iPhone, let's call it iPhone 6, will have a bigger display (4 to 4.5 inch) and hopefully double the resolution. This may sound silly, but than Apple can make sure they won't go below the current iPhone 4's 326 ppi display and it will probably sound great as well: the first Full HD, 1920 * 1280 display, on a phone.

I also hope that iOS 6 will finally get a new GUI. Don't get me wrong, iOS works just fine as it is now but for me, personally, I want to see something new. A fresh, new Graphical User Interface.

This is going to be the year of the hardware, and hopefully software as well.
 
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I'll be there ready to buy whenever it's out. That's all :)
 
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Looking forward to what is produced!
 
ThunderSkunk said:
Guh... screen res bump. chip bump. ram bump...

Waiting for the next big swing o the brush.

Can't wait to see the broad strokes again, Apple.
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Quadrupling the screen resolution is one hell of a "bump". I've never been interested in an iPad but that will certainly change if they deliver resolution at that level.
 
derbladerunner said:
For those who missed my link earlier, this is a promo video for Sharp's Sakai plant, Sharp's newest factory:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPzL2ujDldw

Pretty amazing site, also does solar cells. Started operations in 2010. I guess Apple would use this site.
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My only concern is too many eggs in one basket so to speak if there were a natural disaster. However, it does look impressive and I look forward to Apple working with Sharp.
 
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It seems like any time an "analysist" makes a prediction, the Wall Street Journal is there less than a week later making the same claim or a slightly varied claim. Keep up the good work WSJ
 
That sounds awesome. I would suspect some time later 2012. Before the end of the world. :eek:
 
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Already got money set aside for the 128gb or 256gb version! Can't wait!
 
a case of confounding variables

To my mind this doesn't confirm that Sharp will be supplying a modified IGZO screen to Apple for their iPad 3. It just says that Sharp has become a screen supplier to Apple. It may happen but this doesn't confirm it. It could be Apple is just expanding their supplier base in light of the Samsung fiasco.
 
Quite a few people have been going on about the poor quality of Sharp panels... Correct me if I'm wrong but I do believe Sony uses Sharp panels in their televisions. Not saying that sharp TV's are any good, there's some things that need to go in behind the panel to make it great (and that quattron thing is a complete load of crap). Anywhoodle. They'll need to be making sure they keep IPS style screens (or PLS if they're using Samsung) to make sure viewing angles remain good.
 
Digitalclips said:
My only concern is too many eggs in one basket so to speak if there were a natural disaster. However, it does look impressive and I look forward to Apple working with Sharp.
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Same here. As the youtube video began, my first thought was 'tsunami'.
 
Leaping Tortois said:
Quite a few people have been going on about the poor quality of Sharp panels... Correct me if I'm wrong but I do believe Sony uses Sharp panels in their televisions. Not saying that sharp TV's are any good, there's some things that need to go in behind the panel to make it great (and that quattron thing is a complete load of crap). Anywhoodle. They'll need to be making sure they keep IPS style screens (or PLS if they're using Samsung) to make sure viewing angles remain good.
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Sony uses S-PVA panels from S-LCD which is a partnership between samsung and Sony. Sharp uses their own technology called ASV which is different from both VA and IPS. It has good view angles from my experience. And S-PVA would not be a downgrade from the current IPS panel. It has several advantages over IPS actually. The lack of random bleeding that IPS panels seem to be famous for, no off angle glowing, Much better contrast (also allows a less powerful backlight as more light gets through on white pixels) IPS has a very poor efficiency rate. S-PVA is also viewable from a diagonal angle. While IPS has good horizontal and vertical angles (it loses more contrast compared to PVA) it has terrible diagonal angles. Go to any sports bar with IPS televisions and you'll see how poor it is from a diagonal angle. This is important for when you have a group of people look on while its on a table or slightly inclined. VA is also less prone to defects such as stuck pixels than IPS is. There are advantages to each tech, but in the tablet field IMO S-PVA is far superior to IPS.
 
I'm hoping for a retina display, but at this point, I'm ready for a tablet and will accept an iPad 3 with or without one.
 
ljocampo said:
To my mind this doesn't confirm that Sharp will be supplying a modified IGZO screen to Apple for their iPad 3. It just says that Sharp has become a screen supplier to Apple. It may happen but this doesn't confirm it. It could be Apple is just expanding their supplier base in light of the Samsung fiasco.
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Yes. My thoughts exactly. It's a far cry from "Sharp is one of the suppliers for (higher-res, IPS) iPad 3 displays" to "all of the displays for the iPad 3 are being produced by Sharp, built using a relatively new and untested technology".

The latter is just asking for a problems with supply bottlenecks and cost overruns, if yields on the new display type aren't high enough. Which seems likely given the combination of extremely high PPI, 10" size, and the novelty of their display tech.

Wednesday's report of an Apple partnership with Sharp to build that type of display might be accurate -- but if it is, I think it's MUCH MUCH more likely that it will be for iPhone 5, giving a lot more time to sort out any issues before they need to ramp up production, and explaining the 330 PPI target. Also, the costs and delays from any unforeseen yield issues would have a much smaller impact with 3.5" displays than it would with 9.7" ones.
 
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