Apple Buys Up All 10.1 OLED, LCD Displays: Report

[Paul Daniel Ash]

image via applecia

According to an anonymous tip provided to TG Daily at CES, Asian suppliers are experiencing drastic shortages of 10.1-inch OLED and LCD display screens as Apple buys up all of the available supply. In a separate story, Reuters reports that the case and touchscreen suppliers for the long-rumored Apple tablet are ramping up production.

An anonymous designer told TG reporter Sylvie Barak that his company was "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... We were told that Apple pre-ordered them all. All 10 inch LCDs, and all 10 inch OLEDs too."

If true, this supply shortfall would tend to substantiate the rumor, which circulated last November, that Apple would release a version of the tablet with a high-end OLED display. OLED - organic light-emitting diode - displays provide color graphics on a screen without requiring a backlight. They use less energy and provide a much sharper picture, and are increasingly popular on devices like the Zune HD and the Google Nexus One phone.

Reuters also reported last week that Taiwanese supplier AVY Precision Technology had been contracted by Apple to provide aluminum casings for the tablet. According to the report, the firm TPK Solutions was tapped to be the supplier for the glass touchscreen panels. Yesterday, MacObserver received a photograph, shown below, that purports to be of the glass screen that will be used on the tablet. It sports openings for what appear to be a speaker and a camera, with the Home button along one side.

[sandstorm77]

Nice....1st too

[LittleJob]

i hope that is not the tablet...

[chickenwings]

That just looks like a massive iPhone! Original!

[allanes5]

i hope that is not the tablet...

I totally agree!

[Reggyr07]

I really don't think that apple would release the tablet looking exactly like a big iPhone. If they do then they are complete idiots!

[gQstatus05]

That would be an epic fail. Imagine how it would look when you turn it landscape. I want to say FAKE

[Melech518]

Such a FAKE, lol. The tablet is not going to look like a gigantic iPhone with an earpiece. I would lol so much at someone walking down the street talking on the tablet like it was a giant iPhone.

[iMister]

Such a FAKE, lol. The tablet is not going to look like a gigantic iPhone with an earpiece. I would lol so much at someone walking down the street talking on the tablet like it was a giant iPhone.

I have just pictured that...... I agree, it would look extremely stupid!

[Melech518]

Also, I have to say that if this tablet is a portrait mode device, I will be extremely disappointed. This Tablet needs to be in landscape mode .

[dale2]

LMAO seeing someone walk down the street talking on an oversized iphone reminds me of that guy on Trigger Happy TV with that giant phone and he would yell into it at random public places.

[iLaw-One]

I'd prefer this screen on the iphone...

[KartRacer]

I would lol so much at someone walking down the street talking on the tablet like it was a giant iPhone.

No different than a ghetto blaster from years back.....

[tudtran]

That's computer look awesome.

[rhekt]

the picture is fake...this gets ridiculous sometimes

[rwin84]

crap