Reuters reports that Sharp president Takashi Okuda today made a rare public reference to an unreleased Apple device, acknowledging that his company will begin shipping displays for the next-generation iPhone this month.
Japan's Sharp Corp. said it will start shipping screens destined for a new Apple iPhone that is widely expected to be released in October ahead of the pre-Christmas shopping season.
"Shipments will start in August," Sharp's new president, Takashi Okuda, said at a press briefing in Tokyo on Thursday after the company released its latest quarterly earnings.
He declined to give a more specific date for shipments beyond this month.
The report also reiterates circulating rumors that the next iPhone will carry a larger 4-inch display that makes use of in-cell touch technology to reduce thickness.
Sharp president Takashi Okuda
Numerous sources have all but confirmed that Apple's media event to introduce the next iPhone will take place on Wednesday, September 12, with several indicating that availability of the device will follow on Friday, September 21. Reuters' report mentions expectations for October availability, but that would mark an unusually long gap between introduction and availability given that Reuters was one of the sources to report the September 12 media event date earlier this week.
