Digitimes reports that Apple has secured nearly 60% of the global touch panel capacity of 2011 in order to fulfill its internal goals of shipping 40 million iPads this year.
Sources from tablet PC makers also pointed out that the component shortage is causing their shipment volumes to be unable to catch up with their orders, especially for second-tier players. Touch panels are currently suffering the most serious shortage due to Apple holding control over the capacity of major touch panel makers such as Wintek and TPK, and with US-based RIM, Motorola and Hewlett-Packard (HP) also competing for related components, second-tier players are already out of the game, the sources noted.
So called "second tier" players are seemingly unable to obtain supply due to the high demand from Apple and other companies.
Apple had previously revealed that they had prepaid $3.9 billion to three companies in order to guarantee long term supply of a certain component, but stopped short of revealing which one. This news seems to further indicate that Apple spent its $3.9 billion investment towards securing LCD supply for its future products.
Apple recently announced that Tim Cook will be stepping down as CEO later this year, after 15 years of leading the company.
Effective September 1, Apple's hardware engineering chief John Ternus will become the company's next CEO, while Cook will become executive chairman of Apple's board of directors. In his new role, Apple said Cook will assist with "certain aspects" of the company,...
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not launching until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices.
It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component will be moved under the...
While not too much has been reported about the next Apple Watch models, there are a few rumors about potential design changes and watchOS 27 features.
Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 models are expected to be released in September, and we have outlined some of the key rumored hardware and software changes below. A new Apple Watch SE is not expected this year, as that model was...
