“Apple Inc plans to invest in a Sharp Corp factory to secure a supply of LCD screens for iPhones and iPads, sources said, triggering expectations Apple may step up orders to Japanese parts makers,” Mayumi Negishi reports for Reuters.
“The proposed move, along with an investment in a new LCD factory of Toshiba Corp, comes as Apple and key supplier Samsung Electronics battle in courts over patent disputes, spurring talk that Apple may diversify suppliers,” Negishi reports. “Japanese chipmakers in particular, such as Elpida Memory Inc and Toshiba Corp, are hopeful of larger orders from Apple if the U.S. company’s relationship with Samsung deteriorates further, sources familiar with the matter said.”
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Negishi reports, “Sharp has already clinched a contract with Apple to supply power-efficient screens for the sixth-generation iPhone, to launch in 2012, sources have previously said.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Jax44” for the heads up.]
Remember when Apple paid Samsung $400 million to build an LCD plant and the result was the 30 inch ACD? Fun times…
The 30″ ACD was made by LG.LG.Philips (which is now just LG) not Samsung.
Apple need to rework its policies
I Apple does dipikat LG work such a huge investment , it will crate a loads more headache as it becomes a manufacturing company.
Hopefully apple will not do this.
Prices of apple products will rise above as LG now will be able to set their own price knowing Apple has no other options .
Bad precedent….
Hey there Zoo, sure hope them idiots at Apple read here for your sage advice. God knows those fools need help running the biggest tech company in the world. Dam fools better rework all thier plans. They should be calling you soon.
Apple did it with Samsung, LG, Toshiba before. Apple invest money, but do not own any property or workers, they own the product the manufacture will produce.
More correctly: not necessary all of products, id est not exclusively. However, prices for Apple are exclusive as result of these deals.
Let’s just hope that component quality does not suffer during the supplier diversification process.
Japanese corporations have been much more honourable than the Koreans.
Dear Apple, please consider a gradual move out/replacing of most component suppliers and cheap manufacturing from Asia to the Americas.
Sharp’s Kameyama plant, I hope, is 200 feet above sea level and has its own power supply.
Bull to your first sentence.
Hear hear to your last!
Move cheap manufacturing to the Americas. You got that right. There is a lot of cheap labor in Equador and Peru.
So you’re looking forward to paying $1000 for an iPad then.
My particular taste bud often demands quality and ethical principals; I find things to taste sour without them. Sometimes economics align (something that an honest business like Apple tries to achieve more often than the competitor’s usual hoodwinks) with my taste and I pick up what I can, other times I wait until I can afford one (I save up, as opposed to just rushing to grab cheaper but unethical/copycatting product today).
Yes, Japanese products aren’t often as cheap. But their build quality is also often superior. I know a bit of their engineering ethics first hand, because as early last summer I did robotics research at one of their Aerospace labs. From the consumer end, most photographers I know would prefer the Nikkor or Canon lenses built in Japan as opposed to in China or Vietnam whenever possible. And they cost more. Sometimes, cost based trade-offs don’t make them the best bargains.