Sharp has this morning announced a ¥10.4 billion ($112 million) investment from Samsung that will provide the latter with a 3% stake in the company. It makes Samsung the biggest individual shareholder in the Japanese display maker, and secures its access to Sharp’s LCD panel supplies.
The investment comes at a time when Sharp has been struggling. The company received a $4.4 billion bailout from the banks in October 2012, and its iPad display orders from Apple were recently cut as consumer demand shifted to the smaller iPad mini, which Sharp is not involved with.
AU Optronics, a display manufacturer that produces panels for the iPad mini, has reportedly caught up with its orders following poor yield rates during the second half of 2012. The company has produced one million displays for the device, according to industry sources, and it has now begun work on its next project — a new display for the next-generation iPad mini.
Will the iPad mini become the first iOS device with an IGZO display?
Sharp has been hard at work on a new display technology known as IGZO which looks set to be a perfect solution for mobile devices. Not only does it offer higher touch sensitivity, but it’s so energy efficient it can triple the battery life of devices. We’ve been expecting Apple to use IGZO displays for some time, but reports have suggested that Sharp simply cannot make them quick enough to meet the demand of Apple’s consumers. However, it seems that’s all changed.
Just hours ahead of Apple’s iPad mini event in San Jose, Sharp has announced that it soon expects sales of its IGZO displays to surge.
It might look similar from the back, but that’s as far as it goes.
If, for whatever reason, you won’t be upgrading to the iPhone 5 this fall, but you don’t want to feel left out when everyone else upgrades. Then check out this mod that promises to covert your iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S into an iPhone 5. All it really does is change its back panel, but it’s still pretty cool.
Will Apple’s website look like this come October? We hope so.
When I first spotted those leaked images of what was claimed to be the next-generation iPhone’s rear panel, I wasn’t keen on the two-tone aluminum look, and I found myself wondering what Jony Ive was up to inside Apple’s design labs. But now that I’ve seen a few mockups of that design, I’ve changed my mind.
In fact, the latest mockups, created by Martin Hajek, look absolutely incredible.
The new MacBook Pro’s Retina display, without its pretty casing. Image courtesy of iFixit.
Apple mentioned during its unveiling of the MacBook Pro last week that it has made some substantial changes to the construction of the notebook’s display to help make it super thin. Unlike existing MacBooks, the new Pro does away with a cover glass and case to measure just 1.5mm thin, essentially making the entire display just an LCD panel.
We’ve seen a good number of images claiming to be the sixth-generation iPhone’s rear panel in recent weeks, all of which feature identical designs. But what isn’t entirely clear from these images is just how different these leaked panels are when compared to those that feature on our iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S.
However, thanks to this video from parts supplier ETrade Supply, it’s easy to see the changes Apple has made to its next iPhone (assuming this is indeed a genuine part, of course). And there are a lot of them.
This time last week we had very little idea of what the new iPhone may look like. Sure, we had rumors and claims that gave us something to go on, but none of them were supported by any evidence. But in the space of just a few days, we’ve seen several front and back panels from a number of different sources, which have today been backed up by what is purported to be a leaked blueprint for the next-generation iPhone.
Not enough pixels in your iPhone? LG has you covered.
Okay, the headline may be a little exaggerated, but LG has finally given the iPhone’s Retina display a real competitor. Its new, 5-inch smartphone panel boasts a 1920 x 1080 resolution with a staggering 440 pixels per inch and promises to provide incredibly crisp images with full, high-definition video.
In comparison, the iPhone’s 3.5-inch Retina display boasts just 326 pixels per inch at a 960 x 640 resolution.
Yet another rear panel for Apple’s iPad 3 has surfaced, refueling rumors that claim the third-generation tablet will feature a new camera and a slightly modified design to accommodate its new components.
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