“Touch panel maker Wintek on Tuesday announced that its June sales were down an unusually high 33.6 percent month over month, signaling that the company may have lost out on key orders for Apple’s next-generation products, namely a new iPhone rumored to have in-cell touch panel technology,” Neil Hughes reports for AppleInsider.
“The companies rumored to provide in-cell touch panels to Apple are Sharp and Toshiba Mobile, while an additional report in May also named Sony as a potential supplier,” Hughes reports. “Current iPhone and iPad models use glass-on-glass touch solutions provided by Wintek and TPK Holdings, and Wintek does not offer in-cell technology.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Next-gen iPhone to account for 70% of in-cell LTPS touch panels in 2012-2013 – May 29, 2012
Sony to supply in-cell touch panels for next-gen iPhone to launch in October, say sources – May 24, 2012
iPhone touch-panel shipments decline as iPhone 5 looms, say sources – May 4, 2012
Analyst: In-cell touch screens to slim Apple’s next-gen iPhone by 15% – April 23, 2012
Apple next-gen iPhone likely to adopt in-cell touch screens by Sharp and Toshiba, say sources – April 20, 2012
Is In-Cell something we should care about?
Someone please enlighten me.
[ Reports are coming out that sources in Apple’s supply chain report the Cupertino company is likely to adopt in-cell touch panels from makers Sharp and TMD as they exhibit “an improvement in yield rates” over the glass-on-glass touch solutions currently supplied by TPK Holdings and Wintek.
What does this mean for the consumer? Well, as in-cell touch panels are thinner than glass-on-glass equivalents, it could allow Apple to tighten the waistline of its next smartphone device. ]
Thanks Brett!
In-cell tech allows the display to be thinner, which is important to Apple because it will allow the battery to be ever-so-slightly thicker (greater capacity). The fact that Sharp is on the list of “winners” suggests that the display might use IGZO tech, which also has benefit of being thinner (and potentially brighter).
Let me add that these are bleeding edge technologies; Sharp just began shipping IGZO screens in April. And it takes YEARS to perfect both the core tech and the fabrication processes. Assuming Sharp has worked out the bugs (they were in the running to supplant Samsung as the display supplier for the 3rd gen iPad, but couldn’t meet Apple’s quantity and quality requirements on-time), this could mark the beginning of a tidal shift away from Samsung as a display supplier.
I encourage the folks at MDN to do some research on this and learn something before they do their next bash piece on Tim Cook and his management of Apple’s supply chain.
Your post makes a lot of sense, Ralph M. The pieces appear to be coming together for the next leap by Apple in the integration of advanced mobile electronics technology. It takes time to do that kind of highly complex job right, but the resulting products speak for (and sell) themselves. The last decade of increasing Apple dominance was no accident.
Typically new display technologies appear first in smaller formats. So I would expect an IGZO display to make its debut this fall in the next generation iPhone where thinness and power efficiency are of utmost importance. The next step for IGZO would be the new iPad released in spring 2013 or, possibly, a smaller iPad released with or after the next generation iPhone.
With respect to your comment about MDN and Tim Cook, I wholeheartedly agree. MDN and many other people have been quick to disparage Tim Cook based on some rather flimsy rationale. Tim’s biggest crime appears to be that he is not Steve Jobs (and he cannot help that). But that could also be one of Tim’s biggest strengths, too.
Give Tim and company at least three to five years. Then you can make an educated assessment of their post-Jobs performance. Until then, it is all just speculation, IMO.
It’s getting so they’ve really pushed currently available technology to the max. The thing then that differentiates their products is S O F T W A R E.
With some of the sloppy work I see as of late from Apple, I fear the problem is that Steve isn’t there telling people when their work is a pile of shit. Everyone talks about how much of a tyrant he could be, and how much of an asshole. I believe that it was that side of him that brought out the best in people.
He knew how to say, “You can do better.”
I don’t know that Cookiewuss has this. He’s too busy kowtowing to the NY Times.
I concur, you don’t just call up human resources and say “hey, send me over another Steve Jobs.” People don’t seem to grasp this for some reason.
lol…”cookiewuss.”
There were countless occasions during the time Steve Jobs was in charge that software wasn’t perfect, and people complained then, too. It is the nature of the beast.
I gotta say, TheIonious, you are working really hard here to find a way to bash Cook…
I agree. Thelonious, do you blame Cook for Steve’s death? Just who do you prefer for Apple CEO? Steve is the one who basically selected Cook to take over. What more do you want? We all know that their was only one Steve Jobs. That is not a fault you can lay at the feet of Tim Cook.
I’d be more scared of that ass-pirate Cook than Jobs any day.
-100
Why doesn’t this comment section have a moderator? This homophobic crap really detracts from the site. Unless of course that you belong to the Tea Party where these comments are perfectly normal.
And in your perfect world, all tea partiers would be censored, banned or killed? It’s amazing how you can reprimand one person’s moronic behavior while in the same post engage in the behavior you supposedly don’t like. “Tolerance for all who think like me”.
Just making a legitimate observation on the Christian right.
I consider myself Christian and conservative. I have a gay friend (I know, probably shocking to you) who contends that she is far more judged in her liberal circles when they learn that she is a Christian than when her Christian community learns that she is gay.
Don’t believe everything Jon Stewart tells you. There are haters on both sides, it’s just that liberal hatred is allowed to exist under the banner of “tolerance”.
Look up pastor Chales Worley
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/21/north-carolina-pastor-gay-rant-starvation_n_1533463.html.
This is what represents your tolerant attitudes. This runs rampant through the church.
As long as you do not attempt to legislate religion in the U.S., then you are entitled to your beliefs. Unfortunately, organized religion (predominantly Christian) in the U.S. have decided to assume active political roles including such areas as (mis)-education and censorship. That is the line at which my bemused acceptance of organized religion ends. One of the reasons that I am distrustful of the Republican party is its pandering to the religious far right. I have reasons to distrust the motives and objectives of the far left, as well. Thus, I position myself as a moderate independent who would like to see Congress engage in meaningful debates and constructive compromise.
I had no problem with prayer and such in school growing up. It wasn’t my thing, but I respected those who professed belief and acted in accordance with the moral and ethical precepts of their religion. I met far too many who were CINO and were far worse human beings than many atheists or agnostics. In my opinion, the life that a person leads is far more important than a particular set of religious beliefs that defines the one true path to everlasting life. A person can be spiritual without being part of an organized religion.
I truly regret the overzealous litigation by anti-religious activists in the U.S. I felt that their agenda went overboard and was counter-productive because it actually strengthened and motivated the religious right over the last couple of decades.
In a perfect world we would educate the tea partiers and have them read a book or two
They don’t want to pay for education. Stupid is as stupid does.
@Pocketrash: I see nothing in twodales’ that says anything about censoring, banning or killing all members of the Tea Party. He didn’t even call for Boulderfrog’s inane and frankly offensive comment to be censored. What he did do is ask a reasonable question, does this forum have a moderator. It is a huge leap to killing people. You might want to seek professional help.
Meanwhile, twodales’ link to Pastor Worley’s hateful sermon DOES explicitly preach the killing gay and lesbian people, and it documents similar calls for persecuting lesbian and gay by a variety of other conservative religious leaders. And Jon Stewart had nothing to do with it.
Thank you Ralph. Prejudice in any form is intolerable.
Fine. See if I invite you guys to the Cupertino sauna.
Well, you’ve proved you’re a schmuck.
Let’s remind you that MobileMe happened on Steve’s watch. Your continual whining about Tim Cook smacks of some other bias that you are not articulating. I can just guess what that might be.
+1
@TM last sentence; “I don’t know…”.
You didn’t need to post anything other than that.
TM is a pathetic petty tyrant. Thinks everything should be the way he sees it.
You don’t know a thing about Steve Jobs or Tim Cook; leave it at that.
Try getting out of your basement once in awhile.
You are quick to condemn Cook, TMac, and ever so clever with your disparaging nickname. But I would say that you are jumping to a judgment with inadequate data and inadequate rationale. Just who would you put in charge of Apple, anyway? Who would meet your exacting standards?
Cook appears to have handled a difficult transition pretty well. I am willing to give him a few years before drawing any major conclusions.
I haven’t seen Cook put a foot wrong so far, and he was always perfectionist Steve Jobs’ first choice. Apple’s software continues to be leagues ahead, so in short, I profoundly disagree with you, bespectacled Morpheus.
pastor Chales Worley is another example of a christian not knowing the bible. Jesus came not to judge and he loves everyone… Doesn’t matter who or what you are he loved them.. and being a christian means to be christ like…. it aggravates me that these people call themselves christians and yet they are judging and condemning others…So what if being gay is a sin… so is swearing, or talking about killing off people, drinking heavily, adultery, etc. they are all the same to god.. we are the ones who put degrees of punishment on them. I wish all christians, especially pastors, would not be so ignorant of the word. Being a christian is to follow christ and his ways… a religion is a cult… this guy is creating his own cult of followers and he will pay.