According to a new report from market research firm DisplaySearch (via CNET and ZDNet Korea), Samsung claimed the top spot as Apple's biggest iPad display panel supplier in the first quarter of 2014, shipping 5.2 million units of the high resolution 9.7-inch panels that were used in the iPad Air and the reintroduced 4th generation iPad.
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Samsung's panels accounted for 62% of Apple's 9.7-inch displays, while longtime partner LG Display shipped 3.2 million displays to account for 38% of the total. Apple was said to have chosen Samsung as a primary iPad display supplier last August, and reportedly turned to the Korean company in October to produce displays for the Retina iPad mini as Sharp and LG Display struggled with low yields.
Apple has been reported for quite some time to be seeking to reduce its reliance on Samsung as a component supplier due to tensions between the two companies as they have become top competitors in the mobile device market. However, Samsung's technological advantages and production capacity as a display supplier have proven valuable to Apple's needs over the years, as the two companies are likely to continue that partnership for the foreseeable future.
Top Rated Comments
(View all)This is the last year this is gonna happen.
I bet it isn't.
This is bad news for consumers who don't enjoy Samsung's inferior technology in their Apple devices. I hope Apple can phase Samsung out of the supply chain entirely within the next 12 months. This has to end for the good of Apple and for consumers who want the very best products money can buy.
Except Samsung's displays, memory, and SSDs used in many generations of Apple products did not cause them to be inferior.Need we be reminded how many people went on exchange sprees trying to get a Retina MacBook Pro with a Samsung display because LG's screens had problems and were inferior?
This is bad news for consumers who don't enjoy Samsung's inferior technology in their Apple devices. I hope Apple can phase Samsung out of the supply chain entirely within the next 12 months. This has to end for the good of Apple and for consumers who want the very best products money can buy.
I don't have a problem with Apple using Samsung parts as long as those parts have no software in them and don't run Android. Hardware is all good.
This is bad news for consumers who don't enjoy Samsung's inferior technology in their Apple devices. I hope Apple can phase Samsung out of the supply chain entirely within the next 12 months. This has to end for the good of Apple and for consumers who want the very best products money can buy.
There's no problem with the quality of most Samsung components. Also as the article states, it seems they had no problem supplying Apple, while Sharp and LG Display struggled with low yields.It's Samsung's business MO that many Apple followers have issues with. Face the facts, this is for now, a mutually beneficial business relationship that is unlikely to end within 12 months.