iPad 3 – Super High Resolution Display
iPad 3 High Resolution Display
It’s the most definitive assurance yet that Apple’s next iPad will include a screen with a near “retina display”-quality resolution: DisplaySearch analyst Richard Shim has told CNET that “production has started” for 2048×1536, 10-inch-class tablet screens, and three manufacturers Samsung, Sharp and LGD are supplying parts to Apple.
“It takes a couple of weeks for the production to go to the [the manufacturers],” Shim told CNET. “Then the manufacturer puts them in the housing. Then, that goes off to shipment. We could start seeing finished devices produced in December.And then being ready to be shipped in January. With volumes gearing up in February and March.” Shim’s words bear a confidence that’s been missing from most discussions concerning the iPad 3’s display aspirations.
Just three weeks ago, when I directly asked DisplaySearch Senior Vice President Paul Semenza if he thought Apple would be able to deliver an iPad 3 with a 2048×1536 screen resolution by the first quarter of 2012, he told me, “We don’t have a forecast on it, no. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t get there. They’re dealing with a lot of new technologies.”
Indeed, producing relatively small, ultra-high-resolution displays is still a significant manufacturing challenge. The display industry’s manufacturing infrastructure hasn’t been optimized to deliver this type of display, and the fabrication machines or “fabs” that would produce the displays in mass volume have been slow to go online.
What’s more, because their pixels are so small, and packed together so densely in such small physical spaces, it’s very difficult for a manufacturer to maintain high production yields (a problem exacerbated by the slow roll-out of appropriate manufacturing machinery). Multiple displays are fabbed on a single poly-silicon wafer, and for every perfect display a fab produces, it may have to junk another.
“We know there are yield issues. This is certainly a huge step up as far as pixel format, and every time you do that, there will be yield issues. But this is going forward,” said Rhoda Alexander, director of tablet and monitor research for the research firm iSuppli.
Beyond the iPad 3, rumors also suggest that a 7.85-inch iPad could eventually be in the works. This would give display manufacturers like Sharp even more work from Apple.
Success with 7-inch and smaller Android tablets reveal that the market for such a product is likely there, but analysts that support the idea of Apple pursuing a smaller-form iPad are overlooking one key fact. Steve Jobs was personally against such a move to a smaller factor and so early after the death of Jobs it would seem unwise of Tim Cook go against Job’s wishes.
What we do know is that sooner rather than later the Apple iPad 3 will arrive on scenes. Will production issues with the screen result in lower initial yields? Based on past examples it seems likely, but for now all we can do is speculate.