News/Rumors August 2, 2012

iPhone and iPad Mini Display Shipments to Start in August

Sharp’s new president, Takashi Okuda, said at the earnings announcements event in Tokyo that Sarp Corp will start this month the shipments for next iPhone’s display.

“Shipments will start in August,” said Okuda briefly after the release of the company’s quarterly revenue.

Shap’s president made no other statements concerning the display, but trusted sources informed Reuters that the panels for the next generation iPhone will be 4 inches. That means that we should expect an iPhone 5 that is 30 percent bigger than the previous models.

The other two display suppliers of Apple, namely LG Display and Japan Display came with no statements so far, but Sharp’s announcement is enough to give credits to the rumors claiming the mid-September release of iPhone 5.

Moreover, at the beginning of this week, during an interview with Barclays, Tim Cook dropped few hints that were approving iPhone 5’s early October release.

It seems that also display production for iPad mini will begin this month. Paul Semenza, an analyst at NPD DisplaySearch, told CNET that the production of a 7.8 inch display expected to be used for Apple’s smaller iPad may start in August.

“We expect panel production to start in August, with production ramping up to high volumes (more than a million units per month) in the fourth quarter.”

Semenza added that the iPad Mini may be ready for a late 2012 launch if production goes as planned. iLounge, too, has received from its sources the news that Apple’s small tablet will be ready for a November launch and that it may organize a special event for it.