Over the course of the last year, Apple and Samsung have fought bitterly in courtrooms across the globe with mixed results for both sides as they try to quash each other's tablets and phones in seemingly endless patent lawsuits.
In spite of this, Samsung Electronics is in fact the biggest supplier of displays for Apple's new iPad, due to go on sale in two days' time. Samsung has been the supplier of previous generation iPads, but given the fierce battles between the two it is curious that Apple is continuing its reliance on Samsung for components.
Apple's new iPad features a retina display, with three times the pixel density than the previous generation iPad 2.
It's not like they didn't try to diversify their suppliers, though. The iconic U.S. firm reportedly turned to panel-makers LG, Samsung and Sharp to produce the displays, but with the exhaustive standards set by Apple, LG and Sharp were unable to meet the criteria. This gave Samsung a clear run to produce the touchscreen displays as stocks were built up in preparation for the tablet's launch.
"The display specifications on the new iPad are very demanding in terms of the very high resolution," iSuppli senior manager Vinita Jakhanwal said when speaking to Bloomberg. "Achieving this high resolution without compromising on the power consumption and brightness and maintaining Apple's quality standards are supposedly proving to be a challenge for LG Display and Sharp."
Component analysis firm iSuppli went on to say that currently only Samsung is supplying the displays for the new iPad, as the two other manufacturers were unable to produce panels meeting Apple's strict standards.
Issues has since been resolved, though. Sharp is now meeting the requirements set by the Cupertino-based firm and is expected to provide displays for the next build run for the new tablet, according to the Wall Street Journal. LG Display Co. has also met the standards required, and will begin delivering panels shortly.
None of the firms have responded to requests for more information.