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Apple shifts iPad panel production from Samsung to Sharp and LG Display

Friday, August 3, 2012 · 4:26 pm · 47 Comments

“A total of 19.5 million panels for the iPad 2 and new iPad will be shipped in third-quarter 2012, according to Taiwan-based supply chain makers,” Rebecca Kuo and Adam Hwang report for DigiTimes.

“iPad panels are produced using a-Si TFT and oxide TFT technologies currently, and Apple will increase use of oxide TFT panels shipped by Sharp for the new iPad, the sources indicated,” Kuo and Hwang report. “In addition, Apply is decreasing the proportion of total shipments of iPad panels from Samsung Electronics and increasing those from Sharp and LG Display, the sources noted.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Better late than never! That’s right, hit ‘em where it hurts, Tim!

[Attribution: AppleInsider. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Dominick P." for the heads up.]

Categories: News

Tags: iPad, iPad (2012), iPad 2, iPad with Retina display, LG Display, samsung, Sharp

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Comment Feed

47 Comments

dslarsen

Friday, August 3, 2012 - 4:30 pm · Reply

Time to short Samsung!
Abrey Myers

Friday, August 3, 2012 - 4:32 pm · Reply

It’s about time, MDN. And I’d also love to ask Tim – honestly – what took him so long. His answer would be enlightening.
- I love Apple
  
  Friday, August 3, 2012 - 4:36 pm · Reply
  
  I guess it takes time to ramp up such a production line. It is not just another tv screen. The yield rate is it what counts.
- DeRS
  
  Friday, August 3, 2012 - 4:58 pm · Reply
  
  You could remember reports from more than a year ago about Apple investing in Sharp plants.
  
  As soon as Steven Jobs did not succeed to persuade Samsung to drop their copycat style before launching the trial war last spring, he made a command to do business with Sharp.
  
  It took time to prepare huge-scale production there, and it is seems now it is finally ready.
  - Ralph M
    
    Friday, August 3, 2012 - 5:21 pm · Reply
    
    To MDN and the (apparently) numerous people on this forum who haven’t a clue what it takes to source high-tech goods from Asia: It takes years – let me repeat, YEARS – to re-align sourcing on the scale that Apple operates. I know this, by the way, because I do this for a living (headed to China again in a few weeks), unlike the many people – including the clueless at MDN – who somehow imagine that it can be switched on and off like a light. Frankly, I am surprised that major moves happened relatively quickly. Now, let’s pray that the new suppliers can match Samsung for quality and quantity.
    - DD
      
      Friday, August 3, 2012 - 5:48 pm · Reply
      
      Sanctimonious BS. You working for a nobody is not the same as Apple. Apple has a lot of influence. I doubt the company you work for is even in the same ballpark. Not MS, Cisco, GOOG, NOKIA, HTC, SONY, nor any other Apple wannabe could swing the kind of doors that Apple can. What might take you years can be achieved by Apple much quicker.
      - Devfr
        
        Friday, August 3, 2012 - 6:01 pm · Reply
        
        DD for double dick. You don’t know what you’re talking about. Just spouting fanboi nonsense. Changing major suppliers when only a handful can supply sufficient units to meet ordered numbers and when even fewer can do so to quality standards takes much time – it’s not a matter of swinging doors. Swinging doors does not build factories or assemble workforces or perfect production techniques at short notice.
        
        DD
        
        Friday, August 3, 2012 - 8:45 pm · Reply
        
        How come Apples already done it in less than a year!! Shit for brains.
        
        mossman
        
        Friday, August 3, 2012 - 9:32 pm · Reply
        
        It’s been *2 years* since the iPhone-aping Galaxy S came out (June 2010). iPad components had already been contracted to Samsung. You can bet Steve Jobs ordered that a search for an alternative supplier be started right after the Galaxy S was launched.
        
        It took *2 years* to *start* shifting production away from Samsung to Sharp.
        
        I’m a balanced Apple supporter but blind, raging fanbois like you make all Apple fans look bad. Get out of your mom’s basement and experience the real world before even thinking you know how parts of it work.
        
        Ralph M
        
        Saturday, August 4, 2012 - 12:42 am ·
        
        +1
        
        Pat
        
        Saturday, August 4, 2012 - 6:51 pm ·
        
        Could not of said it better. Nicely done. This a huge leap of faith for Apple.
        
        warbux
        
        Saturday, August 4, 2012 - 7:01 am · Reply
        
        Expound my dear pimple face. Clearly you (and MDN) have limitless wisdom to share from your decades of leadeship in large enterprise.
        
        Kenrm
        
        Friday, August 3, 2012 - 9:34 pm · Reply
        
        Devfr,
        See you just lost it when you said “fanboi nonsense”.
        
        The proof is Apple has had LG producing displays for a long time now, also LG recently opened up another production facility to increase yeilds for tablet screens, and again since LG was also a supplier to Apple, as is sharp and samsung for display technology, it’s not impossible for Apple to make this happen.
        
        Apple has also posted that they have retooled for the iPad in 48 hours, and with Apples billions, it’s not hard to see that they could use that cash to help shift to another supplier that has been producing for them much more quickly then most other company’s due to this.
        
        Ralph M
        
        Saturday, August 4, 2012 - 12:44 am · Reply
        
        -10
        
        mossman
        
        Saturday, August 4, 2012 - 12:58 am · Reply
        
        Kenrm, DD lost it right off the start with “Sanctimonious BS”, I didn’t see you call him on that.
        
        LG and Sharp may be suppliers too, but MDN itself reported in March that Apple was forced to go back to Samsung when both LG and Sharp failed to meet Apple’s quality requirements.
        
        http://macdailynews.com/2012/03/13/samsung-to-supply-apple-with-ipad-screen-after-lg-sharp-miss-requirements-says-analyst/
        
        It’s taken 4-5 months for Sharp and LG to get their acts together and produce screens that meet Apple’s quality requirements, despite Apple’s billions in cash–money obviously can’t solve everything.
        
        Do you have a link to the post about retooling for iPad in 48 hours? Not being snarky, I want to know the context. Right now it sounds more like they’re talking about Foxconn factory assembly lines and how they could be converted to new/updated product in 48 hours. That’s converting existing lines, not opening entirely new facilities–LG and Sharp can’t have that many production/assembly factories sitting idle waiting for Apple manufacture orders to come in.
mango

Friday, August 3, 2012 - 4:33 pm · Reply

Finally!!!!
MacHeadB

Friday, August 3, 2012 - 4:33 pm · Reply

Better late than never Tim!

By taking away Samsung’s component supply orders Apple can reduce the cost savings Samsung gets from Economy of Scale.
Kevin

Friday, August 3, 2012 - 4:41 pm · Reply

Glad to see this finally done. I know many are upset it took this long, but the sheer size and scale of this sort of operation takes time. And not done correctly will produce sub par parts.
- Bizlaw
  
  Friday, August 3, 2012 - 5:14 pm · Reply
  
  It’s not as simple as moving production. Apple had multi-year contracts with Samsung for component purchases. If Apple simply stops purchasing during those contracts, Apple is liable for breach of contract even though Samsung is infringing on Apple’s IP in another area.
Pat

Friday, August 3, 2012 - 4:55 pm · Reply

Provided that the quality is equal to and that production capabilities are matched to Samsung then great. Last thing apple needs are questions about quality as this is a mainstay in their messaging.
Pat

Friday, August 3, 2012 - 5:03 pm · Reply

Careful what we wish for. Sharp and LG…. Could be problematic as Samsung is killing these companies on innovations and having Samsung on board with Apple while not a perfect scenario at least gave Apple an upper hand on fresh new technology. LG is already in trouble and Sharp is not much better. Apple needs to stay on top of Quality Control with these 2 if you get m drift.

Looks like Samsung will become another stand alone warrior in the battle for market supremacy.
- felipe carlos
  
  Friday, August 3, 2012 - 5:30 pm · Reply
  
  More like stand alone thief…
NCG598

Friday, August 3, 2012 - 5:38 pm · Reply

Well, it seem obvious now how Samsung stays on top of technology. They wait, watch, and then copy others.
vsp

Friday, August 3, 2012 - 5:39 pm · Reply

A practical lesson for other manufacturers who use Samseng as their partners to ponder. Samseng has no moral sense of proportion when it decided to create knockoffs of its clients’ products and claimed it as its own creation.
B9bot

Friday, August 3, 2012 - 6:19 pm · Reply

Took long enough, but to watch Samsungs profits fall like a stone it will be worth it.
radTech5000

Friday, August 3, 2012 - 6:26 pm · Reply

It’s about time, this is the best news I’ve heard all day! Next I want to see the day Samsung fires their CEO for being such an idiot and starts cleaning up their act. They need to start repairing their reputation if that’s even possible.
- Bongo
  
  Friday, August 3, 2012 - 7:02 pm · Reply
  
  Their reputation is not damaged, though it ought to be
  - radTech5000
    
    Friday, August 3, 2012 - 7:21 pm · Reply
    
    Perhaps you’re right, but for me personally it’s been damaged and I’ll never buy another Samsung product until they clean up their act.
- Pridon
  
  Friday, August 3, 2012 - 8:30 pm · Reply
  
  There is a downside. SS can redirect the freed capacity to its owm phones ,lowering costs and flooding tje market.
  
  I have been concerned that SS would that SS would cut Aple off and then require Apple tp sue in a Korean court for breech of contract. That would be a lose, lose situation.
  - Alan
    
    Saturday, August 4, 2012 - 1:03 am · Reply
    
    @Pridon – Exactly. their own phones and tablets. There needs to be a healthy competition for Apple in the smart phone and tablet marketplace. Otherwise they are a monopoly – subject to the same chase by the government that Microsoft got. Apple is doing a great job with their products – but without the consumers having a viable choice they don’t have any incentive to really innovate.And I think they need that. All of them beg borrow and steal ideas, concepts, and perhaps even designs. Apple I’m sure is just as guilty of it as Samsung. I’m looking at two Samsung TV’s (/Computer monitors) right now and they look to me like giant Tablets. If they just had a CPU in them they’d be tablets. Whose design was that? Anyone making smart phones or tablets has got to make lighter slimmer sleeker devices to compete at all. That’s not infringement in my book. Everyone including Apple is Standing on the Shoulders of Giants … taking lots of technologies and ideas from others …. many no one is fighting over them. So they are lucky.
    
    But then again on the other side of the coin You Have to Defend all Patents and such … if not they become invalid because you basically let them go. So in that way Apple has to do this. Even if they lose.
    - Jim
      
      Saturday, August 4, 2012 - 2:04 am · Reply
      
      First, remember that it’s not illegal to have a monopoly — it’s illegal to use monopoly power to stifle competition. As long as Jony Ives view that Apple is not out to make money, rather Apple is out to make the best products, then I don’t think there’s a real fear that Apple might abuse monopoly power (they didn’t with the iPod).
      Second, why exactly does Apple need competition? It wasn’t out of competition that they created the iPod, the iPhone or the iPad. Innovation is rarely a response to competition, rather it’s a response to a sucky status quo.
      - Alan
        
        Saturday, August 4, 2012 - 7:59 pm · Reply
        
        I bet their stock holders would love to hear that … that their not out make money. You don’t make great products without the idea of selling a lot of them. If they weren’t selling a lot of something it would be changed or the product dropped. You don’t think going to court to stop Samsung from making similar products and stopping using their video panels is intended to stifle that very competition?
        
        Apple needs competition to avoid monopoly stifling … Apple needs competition to keep them honest – keep them from cutting things like 4G from iPhone – if others have it people might buy the one with 4G. You might say they created the smart phone market or the music player market, But I would say they were already there. They might have *owned* those markets. And a lot of people will buy Apple because everyone else does.
        
        I have an iPod Touch and an iPhone4s. What I do like is the fact that it;s a little portable computer, What I don’t like is Apple telling us what we can put on the devices. I needed WiFi tools for my work. Can’t get them through the normal channels because Apple doesn’t allow them. That’s almost a reason for not owning them … if it wasn’t for Jail Breaking.
Ralph M

Friday, August 3, 2012 - 7:41 pm · Reply

Errrr… and what do you do for a living, DD? I mean, other than eat Cheetos in your mom’s basement? Basically, you haven’t any clue what you are talking about, and you call “sanctimonious BS” on me?! And just to be clear, switching sources has nothing to do with “influence” (where do you morons get this stuff?). Contracts, facility development, fabrication tech, subcomponent sourcing, raw material supplies, etc. etc. are the kinds of issues that drive the ability to change suppliers when the unit quantities are in the tens of millions. But, can’t expect you (or MDN) to know that…
Apple is Always Right

Friday, August 3, 2012 - 9:25 pm · Reply

Don’t mess with Apple. Good move. Crush them.
Gk

Friday, August 3, 2012 - 9:25 pm · Reply

Excellent news. Now even better would be to see the production of the next iPhone CPU shifted to another foundry.
deji

Friday, August 3, 2012 - 11:09 pm · Reply

Samdroid can’t eat his cake and have it. LG and Sharp parts will benefit Apple appetite for quality products. I look forward to a day Shamesung will crash landed in profits making arena
- Pat
  
  Saturday, August 4, 2012 - 7:13 pm · Reply
  
  Samsung Group will never bend as they will overwheminly saturate the Chinese and Indian markets with their mobility and PC products and will hold their own in the US. Apple will be just fine as it can sell devices to it’s followers all day long without breaking a sweat as I doubt that any Apply user will ever defect to Samsung.
  
  The mammoth Samsung Group will do what it does across all of their platforms without misin a beat as Apple will across theirs.
  - Derek Currie
    
    Saturday, August 4, 2012 - 8:15 pm · Reply
    
    I’ve never seen anyone predict Samsung’s doom as a result of their SCAMMING Apple.
    
    But it is thoroughly ignorant to believe Samsung has not screwed themselves over by ripping off one of the hands that feeds them. Samsung is soooo screwed. All of their recent behavior indicates that they are well aware of that fact, even if you are not.
    - Derek Currie
      
      Saturday, August 4, 2012 - 8:21 pm · Reply
      
      Oh, and then there’s that little matter of REPUTATION. How many actually innovative companies are going to be willing to deal with Samsung in the future, considering there biting into Apple, one of their prime customers?
      
      Oh and how many tech savvy customers are going to be willing to buy Samsung gear after the company has blatantly ripped off Apple, the biggest and best technology company on the planet?
      
      And of course, how often do you believe the tech savvy are going to recommend and positively review Samsung gear after they’ve been caught blatantly ripping off that kewl tech gear company Apple?
      
      It’s a tiny snowball rolling down a huge mountain that keeps getting bigger and bigger. Samsung are freaked-out scared. Keep watching. No FUD required.
      - Alan
        
        Saturday, August 4, 2012 - 9:15 pm · Reply
        
        Not everybody is an Apple Fan Boy now hating Samsung. I don’t think companies are going to stop dealing with Samsung over their patent court problems. Apple, Microsoft, and a lot more go through patent court battles a lot … and people keep buying their products. A lot of non-technology people may be blissfully unaware that this is even happening. I have both Apple and Samsung products. 2 Flat Panel TV / Monitors that I absolutely love. My previous Sony TV that I dropped during a move and cracked the screen was also a Samsung panel inside. I also own 2 Apple products and after jail breaking I love those products as well.
        
        How many tech savvy (non Apple Fan boy) customers are going to be willing to buy Samsung gear … PLENTY. How about that?
        
        after ripping off Apple … I think the jury is still out on that one. The biggest and best technology company on the planet?
        
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_technology_companies
        
        Not according to this list. Who’s that on the top? Samsung.
        
        Samsung might just eat Apple for dinner.
        
        Alan
        
        Saturday, August 4, 2012 - 9:33 pm · Reply
        
        Why Apple is losing the Samsung lawsuit so far …
        
        http://www.cultofmac.com/182797/why-apple-is-losing-the-samsung-lawsuit-so-far/
        
        Derek Currie
        
        Saturday, August 4, 2012 - 10:53 pm · Reply
        
        Samsung might just eat Apple for dinner.
        
        No. I consider that statement to be delusional. So is your choice of linked article:
        
        This is a list of the largest Global Technology Companies by turnover in 2009…
        
        That’s your defense of Samsung? One ’2009′ survey? Even within that article your logic is crushed:
        
        April 2, 2012 Market Cap (USD million):
        1) Apple Inc. – $574,960
        2) MS – $271.330
        3) IBM – $246,890
        4) Google – $209,530
        5) AT&T – $185,070
        6) Oracle Corp. – $135,580
        7) Samsung Electronics – $123,642
        
        -oops-
        Samsung: Blown out of the water by a factor of 4.65.
        That’s kind of significant.
        
        Alan
        
        Sunday, August 5, 2012 - 2:18 am · Reply
        
        http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/29/technology/apple_market_cap/index.htm
        
        Watch the video as well.
        
        “This year, Apple is on pace to become the biggest technology company in the world, measured by revenue, outpacing current global No. 1 Samsung.”
        
        So Samsung has been #1. I don’t know if Apple has passed them yet. But if they don’t win in court Samsung will continue to slaughter them in the Smart Phone and Tablet markets.
Coal Cracker

Saturday, August 4, 2012 - 12:43 pm · Reply

Hallelujah!

100% Samsung free … coming soon.
- Pat
  
  Saturday, August 4, 2012 - 7:03 pm · Reply
  
  Samsung as of Mondaybwill no longer deal with Apple. Sony has already walked away as while they produce a lot of component they do so a rediculously low margins. Samsung is not in the business of make work projects for their world class plants. Not sure who will replace Samsung’s north of 60% of the Apple Macs, iPads and iPhones but let’s just hope that whoever it is that it or they can match Samsung’s quality controls and production capabilities.
  
  Apple and Samsung will now compete head to head on all fronts and spend a whole lot of time in Court rooms around the globe.
Derek Currie

Saturday, August 4, 2012 - 8:12 pm · Reply

Are you enjoying that HOLE you shot in your FOOT Samsung?
Observer

Monday, August 6, 2012 - 2:38 am · Reply

But.. Samsung with all it’s nepotism is in bed with LG.
Different pocket, same family!
Wish Apple had other better alternatives.