According to a Digitimes report of “industry sources,” the panel shipments for the new iPhone 5s are expected to hit the 10 to 13 million mark in the third quarter of this year. Sharp is expected to be the main provider of these panels, at seven million panels, with LG Display and Japan Display providing the rest.
The sources also said that an additional 20 million iPhone 5s panels are slated to be produced by the fourth quarter of 2013, with panel orders for the more colorful, less expensive iPhone 5c expected to surpass 30 million units by this same time. The report is extrapolating the number of potential iPhones sold from the number of panels shipped.
The report continues, saying, “Market observers added that panel shipments for the iPhone 5c are expected to surpass those of the iPhone 5s, showing that Apple is more optimistic about growth in the mid-range handset segment in markets such as China.”
While that’s an interesting conjecture, there’s really nothing about where these panels will end up, nor that the iPhone 5c devices are for the Chinese market. We’re excited that there will be so many iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c units in the wild, but we’re not able to decide which markets these are for based on panel shipment estimates alone.
Last year, Digitimes reported Apple to sell an estimated 50 million iPhone 5 devices by the end of the year, as well, which puts the two new devices in line to sell as much as the single iPhone 5 device did last year. According to Statistics Brain, the iPhone 5 has sold over 57 million units as of this month. Time will tell, of course, but it doesn’t look like Apple’s going to be selling less iPhones any time soon.
Source: Digitimes
Via: Patently Apple
