Sharp Now Producing 'Adequate Volumes' of iPhone 5 Display

Reuters reports that Sharp has publicly stated that it is now producing "adequate volumes" of the display for the iPhone 5, bolstering Apple's efforts to catch up with high demand for the device.

Sharp Corp is making "adequate volumes" of displays it is known to supply for Apple Inc's new iPhone5, a company executive said, indicating that a possible bottleneck in supplies of screens may have eased.

Analysts had blamed a shortfall in supplies of display for leaving Apple with too few iPhones to meet burgeoning demand at its launch this month.

sharp logo
Deutsche Securities analyst Yasuo Nakane estimates that Japan Display and LG Display are capable of producing roughly eight million displays per month each, while Sharp's capacity is pegged at six million displays. With Sharp reportedly having not been ready for the initial batch of iPhone 5 units, over 25% of display production capacity appears to have been offline until just two weeks ago.

Sharp's full production of the iPhone 5 display comes as existing shortages in Apple's first round of launch markets are being compounded by today's expansion to 22 new countries and several more carriers in existing markets.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

Low Cost MacBook Feature A18 Pro

Apple Is Expected to Launch These Four MacBooks in 2026

Friday January 9, 2026 8:17 am PST by
2026 could be a bumper year for Apple's Mac lineup, with the company expected to announce as many as four separate MacBook launches. Rumors suggest Apple will court both ends of the consumer spectrum, with more affordable options for students and feature-rich premium lines for users that seek the highest specifications from a laptop. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. ...
iPhone Top Left Hole Punch Face ID Feature Purple

10 Reasons to Wait for This Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Thursday January 8, 2026 2:56 am PST by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...
iOS 18 Siri Personal Context

Apple Confirms Google Gemini Will Power Next-Generation Siri This Year

Monday January 12, 2026 7:38 am PST by
In a statement shared with CNBC today, Apple confirmed that Google Gemini will power the next-generation version of Siri that is slated to launch later this year. "After careful evaluation, we determined that Google's technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models and we're excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for our users," the statement...
proposed unicode emoji 18%402x

Squinting Face, Pickle, and Lighthouse Among New Emoji Coming to iOS

Friday January 9, 2026 4:24 am PST by
The Unicode Consortium has published a draft list of emoji that could come to smartphones and other devices in the future. The list shared by Emojipedia outlines 19 emoji candidates under consideration for Emoji 18.0, which is expected to be finalized in September 2026. Among the proposed additions are a squinting face emoji, left- and right-pointing thumb gestures, a pickle, a lighthouse, a ...
apple homekit ios 18 5

Apple Reminding Users of Pending Home App Upgrade Requirement

Friday January 9, 2026 10:08 am PST by
Back in late 2022 and early 2023, Apple rolled out a new architecture for its Apple Home platform to deliver improved performance and compatibility, although the rollout came with some hiccups that forced Apple to pull and later re-release the upgrade. Three years later, Apple is now on the verge of ending support for the old version of the Home architecture, which may result in access to...
grok logo purple gradient

U.S. Senators Ask Apple and Google to Remove X and Grok Apps Over Sexualized Image Generation

Friday January 9, 2026 9:43 am PST by
In a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, Ben Ray Lujan, and Edward Markey have requested that Apple and Google remove X Corp's X and Grok apps from their app stores over recent incidents of "mass generation of nonconsensual sexualized images of women and children." X has come under fire over the past week amid reports of Grok's AI image...
iOS 26 Glass Feature

iOS 26 Shows Unusually Slow Adoption Months After Release [Updated]

Thursday January 8, 2026 3:44 pm PST by
Update: As noted by Nick Heer on his Pixel Envy blog, analytics data is unreliable because Safari on iOS 26 is reporting a different operating system version in the user agent string that analytics services rely on for data. For example, devices on several versions of iOS 26 are reporting themselves as being on iOS 18.7 when using Safari. The relatively low number of mobile devices correctly...

Top Rated Comments

JGowan Avatar
173 months ago
Apple needs to break free as far from Samsung as possible. I believe this to be a very positive thing as Samsung needs to stand under their own merits, free from profits due to Apple's success. Not only for screens but ram and any other component Apple needs to make its products. Everything needs to come from other suppliers. I know that Samsung does a good job, but I'm sure that other companies can grow in order to supply great parts in the volumes that Apple needs.

Any money Apple eventually gets from the courts ($1.04B or triple damages on that number) is nothing compared to the thumping Samsung will get with Apple showing Samsung completely to the door. Which, I think, is exactly the thing that needs to happen.

Samsung,... Google. You boys are no longer invited to play with Apple.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Prallethrin Avatar
173 months ago
This is probably one of the most ignorant posts I have had the pleasure or reading. Apple is being stupid in breaking from one of the best Nand, LCD, and Mobile CPU producers on the planet. Your iPhones are going to be filled with 2nd/3rd tier products with higher failure rates. I guess if you like traveling multiple times to the apple store when your phone fails that is fine, but personally when I spend that much money on a phone/laptop I expect it to have the best quality parts on it. Not 2nd/3rd tier, because they feel they need to throw a fit.

If you think their suppliers they are going to be using aren't bad. Look up Hynix that is your new Nand producer, look at sharp for your lcd, and I don't even want to delve into who they are going to have make their CPUs. ROFL Global foundries was thrown around and they are atrocious.

Oh please. Samsung isn't some magic company that is the only one to be able to create "high quality" components. There are many factors involved in component sourcing, e.g. Price.

Samsung can do it cheap that's why Apple buys from them. And cost partly comes down to economy of scale. By supporting Samsung's rivals Apple is helping them "power up" in industrial capacity and with more revenue they can up their R&D as well - hire better engineers etc.

It's win-win for Apple as it gives them more suppliers to source from and competition between them will force down the price and drive innovation. It also give Apple more leverage as they can dump whoever displeases them and go to their competitor.

Oh and Sharp is quite a big player in LCDs with many patents to their name. They have been in trouble lately due to the high Yen - and low domestic demand for TVs. The iPhone 5's display is the best iPhone display yet, if not the best mobile display ever apart from the newest iPad - http://www.displaymate.com/Smartphone_ShootOut_2.htm

----------

Samsung/Sony are the best, their joint venture has made stunning results. Sharpe always have bee and always will be second rate, just like LG.

As for other components. The less said the better.

So people are happy to sacrifice quality and Apple to start using suppliers that were too *iss poor to win contracts the first time round?

Well if they're that ***** thick then let them be ripped off even more, paying the same price for a 3rd rate device.

Ha. Sorry, IPS > PVA in most cases especially in colour accuracy.

Sony has bailed on the jointed venture and has started using Sharp panels.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JGowan Avatar
173 months ago
Apple is not an Island onto itself. They cannot do everything. But they do need to stop relying on companies that steal their products, like Google and Samsung.
You said what I wanted to say in a much more concise manner. Thanks.

You're right... Apple needs partners. Trustworthy partners that can be counted on to supply and not steal!
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BimmerJP Avatar
173 months ago
Good! I love sharp TV/display. I think :apple: made a good choice there :)
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
redbotsoftware Avatar
173 months ago
Apple needs to break free as far from Samsung as possible. I believe this to be a very positive thing as Samsung needs to stand under their own merits, free from profits due to Apple's success. Not only for screens but ram and any other component Apple needs to make its products. Everything needs to come from other suppliers. I know that Samsung does a good job, but I'm sure that other companies can grow in order to supply great parts in the volumes that Apple needs.

Any money Apple eventually gets from the courts ($1.04B or triple damages on that number) is nothing compared to the thumping Samsung will get with Apple showing Samsung completely to the door. Which, I think, is exactly the thing that needs to happen.

Samsung,... Google. You boys are no longer invited.

Apple is not an Island onto itself. They cannot do everything. But they do need to stop relying on companies that steal their products, like Google and Samsung.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Prallethrin Avatar
173 months ago
[/COLOR]

Apple wouldn't be where they are today without Samsung.

Same can be said about Samsung. >.>

They profited quite a bit in the relationship with Apple. They decide to sabotage it. /shrug I sure there are many other companies quite willing to take their place.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)