Lately there have been a few news post about the Apple Tablet every day and today is no exception. TG Daily reports that it’s currently impossible to find a 10.1-inch LCD or OLED screen via Asian suppliers. The website got this news from an anonymous industrial designer during the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
The company the designer works for is planning to launch a product on the market that needs a 10.1-inch screen, but has been trying to get such a screen for months. Not a single Asian supplier can deliver such screens, because Apple bought the whole production.
“We were designing a product for a customer and we needed 10 inch screens, but we’ve been trying for months and can’t get one from any of the Asian suppliers,” an anonymous designer for a firm wishing to remain nameless told TG Daily.
“We were told that Apple pre-ordered them all. All 10 inch LCDs, and all 10 inch OLEDs too,” our source continued, redundantly adding “it’s for the Apple tablet.”
The fact that it’s about LCD and OLED screens is striking. OLED screens are brighter, sharper, AND energy efficient, but are also very expensive. Production costs could get as high as $1500 per device, when looking at the current prices. The eventual price for the consumer could be even higher.
Source: AppleInsider
Thanks for posting the article, was certainly a great read!
I was thinking about this today and about what happened a while back with Apple buying up all the flash memory for the iPhones and iPods. I’m curious that it isn’t just one single supplier but suppliers (plural) that are sold out. I would think that Apple would be picky enought about their hardware that they wouldn’t buy up all the LCD and OLED’s if it meant purchasing screens from suppliers who may not be making as good of quality screens. Example: tablet comes out, we both buy one, you have a screen from one supplier, I end up with another suppliers screen and yours is brighter and richer than mine. Curious if that could happen after I noticed the other day that my girlfriends iPod Touch screen is clearly brighter and richer than my iPhone. I understand they are different devices, and I havnt googled it so I’m sure they have different specs. It just made me wonder about having more than one supplier for a single product, one has to end up producing a a better screen than the other.
I’m guessing Apple has strict conditions and specs all the suppliers must conform to… hmmm.