Samsung to begin producing 3 million iPad screens? Apple ordered 13 million total?

Seth Weintraub
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March 19, 2010
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According to a report by the sometimes spotty (ahem removable battery?!) Korean Times (via DL), Samsung will soon begin producing iPad screens.  This follows news this morning that Wintek may or may not be having issues with production yields on their iPad touch screen sensors.

"Samsung Electronics has won a contract worth $240 million from Apple to supply 3 million LCD panels used in the iPads," a high-ranking industry representative told The Korea Times, asking not to be identified. "The most expensive component in the iPad is the display and touch-screen interface that costs $80 for all models. The 9.7-inch display is more than twice the size of the iPhone 3GS screen and costs five times as much," he said.

LG, who has a $500 million/ multi-year display deal with Apple, is already building 10 million iPad displays according to the report, which would put the total order for displays at 13 million.  That is a lot of iPads.

If true, it will be interesting to see if there is any difference in the capabilities of the two screens.  There was some controversy when Apple changed the quality of the screens in its 13-inch Unibody MacBooks last year.

The Korea Times also states that:

Separately, Samsung Mobile Display ― a flat-screen joint venture between Samsung Electronics and Samsung SDI ― has been in deep talks to supply its LCD panels for Apple's upcoming 4G iPhones and iPads, a company executive told the newspaper. "As far as I know, Apple will use the LCD panels for its next iPhone models. We are receiving related orders from Apple," the executive said, without elaborating further.

The same Korean Times said last year that the 4G iPhone would utilize an OLED display.

Comments (14)

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 19, 2010 - 10:46am

I could imagine the Samsung panels being better. I've seen lots of LG LCD computer panels when shopping around for one, and all of them seem to have washed-out colors compared to Samsungs and HP (the 2 best IMO).

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 19, 2010 - 11:34am

You never know which one you are going to get.
I have a 3GS that I bought when it just came out. My sister got the same model this year. Upon close expection, hers has motion blurring on animations and scrolling, while mine doesn't blur at all.

CrunchDude (not verified) | March 19, 2010 - 1:25pm

Actually, LG has always been more popular with customers of IBM and Lenovo ThinkPad's. It has been a consistent pattern that over the years, even though both manufacture TN screens, instead of the higher quality LCD's that employ PVA/MVA or IPS technology.

In any case, I guess it looks like we'll be getting LG screens on our iPad's for a while to come if Samsung just got the deal in recent days. I don't think it will make that big a difference being that the screens will be LED-backlit IPS displays.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 19, 2010 - 1:26pm

I'm confused, if Samsung is making 3million, and LG is making 10million, then what's this WinTek company that's making (delaying?) them?

Lars Pallesen (not verified) | March 19, 2010 - 4:58pm

Good question, I was thinking the same. Has Apple given up on Wintek entirely? I don't think so. This looks more like a positive problem for Apple of early demand exceeding expectations. This would explain why they need to make new orders for more displays with other manufacturers too IN ADDITION to the ones from Wintek.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 22, 2010 - 2:03am

Wintek, according to this article builds the touchscreen, that is the thin film layer over the top of the LCD panel.

I suspect wintek, being an assembler rather than a component company is simply involved in attaching the touch screen over the top of the panel, and some part of their process is proving to be slow. If the rumour holds, which i doubt, there's a lot of people out there who spread this kind of disinformation, whether they're a platform zealot or their financial wellbeing is directly affected by bashing Apple.

dean graziosi (not verified) | March 22, 2010 - 4:47am

The title of this post is an attractive for me when I read it that Samsung will produce iPad screens.Apple's order 13 million is such a huge number.Yes I am also thinking that it will be interesting to see difference between two screens of LG and Samsung.

guki (not verified) | May 10, 2010 - 1:21am

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muktere | July 21, 2010 - 2:26am

Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic. It is extremely helpful for me.
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muktere | July 22, 2010 - 5:59am

Hope it looks like we'll be getting LG screens on our iPad's for a while to come if Samsung just got the deal in recent days. I don't think it will make that big a difference being that the screens will be LED-backlit IPS displays.
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muktere | July 23, 2010 - 5:02am

13 Million screens? Now all we need is consumers not buy the iPad and we’ll see a MASSIVE drop in price.
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muktere | July 26, 2010 - 4:53am

Apple is primarily relying on LG Display, having secured ten million IPS displays from them a few months ago. This puts Apple’s total iPad display needs for 2010 at 13 million units.
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muktere | July 27, 2010 - 4:36am

Korea Times doesn’t exactly have a stellar record with this sort of rumor, but if true…13 million iPads? That’s pretty steep expectations, Apple.
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muktere | July 27, 2010 - 4:39am

The Korean company has managed to get a contract with Apple apparently worth $240 million to supply said number of displays for the iPad.
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